Reed v. American Dyewood Co.

Citations

• 231 Pa. 431
• 80 A. 873
• 1911 Pa. LEXIS 861

Syllabus

<p>Negligence — Master and servant — Safe place to work — Tools and appliances — “General use” rule — Dust explosion — Defective appliance— Electric motor — Notice of danger — Proximate cause — Question for jury.</p> <p>1. The duty of a master does not require that he protect his servant against all dangers or casualties. He is bound to furnish a reasonably safe place to work and reasonably safe tools or appliances with which to work. The standard or measure of safety depends upon the kind and character of work done. Some kinds of work are more dangerous than others and some tools and machinery are more complicated and necessarily involve more risk than other kinds. These varying conditions must always be taken into account in determining the measure of safety required in such cases. As a general rule a manufacturer meets the requirements of the law when he furnishes the kind of tools or appliances in general use in the particular line of manufacture in which he is engaged.</p> <p>2. In an action by an employee against his employer for damages for injuries received in a dust explosion in defendant’s logwood mill the question of the defendant’s negligence is for the jury and a verdict for the plaintiff will not be disturbed where there is evidence to show that an electric motor, necessary to the manufacturing process, was placed in the fustic room, several feet above the floor and near the wall of the mill; that the motor was neither covered nor guarded; that for several weeks prior to the accident it had been emitting sparks at frequent intervals and of various sizes, many having the appearance of a flame two or three inches long; that the fustic room was filled with dense clouds of wood dust, which settled thickly over the entire interior of the room; that the motor was defective and that this defective condition caused the emission of the sparks or “flame,” and a witness who was in the fustic room at the time testified that about a minute before the explosion he “