Ready v. Smith & Furbush Machine Co.

Citations

• 51 Pa. Super. 294
• 1912 Pa. Super. LEXIS 216

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Duty to furnish proper tools.</p> <p>1. The duty to furnish proper tools, is an absolute one of which the employer cannot be relieved by delegating it to another, and he must see to it at his peril that the duty is performed. Nonperformance by the employer is negligence per se even though he honestly intended that it should be performed by an agent.</p> <p>2. It makes no difference what the rank or title of the servant may be who neglects this duty. It is the character or nature of the act of the employee which causes the injury that determines the liability of the employer. If the act or thing done resulting in injury to the employee, is a duty imposed upon the employer, the negligent performance of it by an employee of any grade will render the employer liable.</p> <p>3. Where an employee receives from a repair boss in charge of a department of the employer’s works, a defective tool in lieu of a part of a machine that had been lost or mislaid, and the employee is injured in using the defective tool, the employer is liable for his injuries; and he is not relieved from such liability by the fact that a room was established in the works where proper repair tools could be obtained, if there is no evidence that the employee knew of such a room, and where it is affirmatively shown that such room was accessible to employees only on orders from the foreman or repair boss. ■</p>