248 Pa. 402 | Pa. | 1915
Opinion by
Plaintiff, a house painter in defendant’s employ, was injured by the falling of a scaffold, upon which he was working, due to the breaking of a rung of one of the ladders which supported it. Plaintiff’s evidence was to the effect that the accident happened on the first day of his employment by defendant. Plaintiff and a fellow-workman as directed by the foreman in charge of the work erected the scaffold with ladders, jacks and planks belonging to defendant, which were upon the ground. One of the ladders, the one which subsequently broke, was weather beaten and warped, and plaintiff complained of its general appearance to the foreman, who assured him it was “all right” and that they had “worked it all around like that.” The .scaffold was erected as such scaffolds usually are, and shortly thereafter, while plaintiff and his fellow-workman were upon it engaged in painting the frame work of the house, one of the rungs of one of the ladders gave way, causing the scaffold to collapse and precipitate both workmen to the ground, a distance of between thirty and forty feet. At the trial in the court below a verdict was rendered in favor of plaintiff. The assignments of error, in addition to one relating to the refusal of the court to give binding instructions for defendant and one referring to the admissibility of a portion of the testimony of a witness, Bowie, which in our opinion was neither prejudicial nor beneficial to either party, referred to instructions given the jury-by the trial judge. Defendant’s contention is that there was insufficient evidence of negligence on his
The evidence was also sufficient to go to the jury on the question whether the defendant fulfilled his duty to furnish his servant reasonably safe tools and appliances with which to work. This duty is an absolute one from which nothing but performance will relieve the employer — Carr v. General Fire Extinguisher Co., 224 Pa. 346; Killmeyer v. Forged Steel Wheel Co., 243 Pa. 110. While it was shown by defendant that the ladder had been inspected by his foreman about seven weeks previous to the accident and found to be in good order; its
The court could not say as a matter of law that plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence, although a servant assumes all obvious risks, incident to his employment, if the work or appliance is not imminently or inevitably dangerous, his dependent position will be taken into consideration and if given positive orders to proceed with his work he is not bound to set up his judgment against that of his superior, but may rely on the assurance of the latter that there is no danger, Reese v. Clark, 198 Pa. 312. Consequently when plaintiff was assured by the foreman that the ladder had been used and was in proper condition, he was justified in relying on such statement and assuming that further inspection on his own account was unnecessary. While the evidence as to the permanency of plaintiff’s injuries is meager, it was sufficient to take that question to the jury. The charge of the trial judge and his rulings upon the points submitted were quite as favorable to defendant as he was entitled to have them. We find no error in either.
The assignments of error are accordingly overruled and the judgment affirmed.