63 Fla. 155 | Fla. | 1912
— The declaration herein is as follows:
“The plaintiff Ed Watts, by his attorney, sues the defendant, The Goulding Fertilizer Co., a corporation, for that, to-wit:—
On the 26th day of January, A. D. 1911, at and in the County of Escambia, State of Florida, the defendant was possessed of, owned and operated a certain large and extensive fertilizer works, wherein it manufactured certain fertilizers for the wholesale trade in the manufacture of which it employed a large force of men: that, in the manufacture of said fertilizer, the defendant used a certain dangerous acid, which would on coming in contact with the person of human beings, cause serious bodily injury and perhaps death, all of which was well known to the defendant: and, that because of the dangerous nature and character of said acid, it became and was the duty of the defendant to use great care and diligence in and about the installation and maintenance of the tanks, pipes, cocks and other paraphernalia used by the defendant for the purpose of conveying said acid in and about its said factory and in controlling same, to the end' that said tanks, pipes, cocks and other paraphernalia would be suitable, safe, and at all times in good condition, so that its employees could perform their duty to defendant in and about the handling of said acid with safety to themselves : That on the date aforesaid plaintiff was in the employ of the defendant, and as such employee of defendant, it became and was his duty to turn on a certain cock attached to a certain pipe leading from the tank in which defendant stored said dangerous acid, to the end that a
And the plaintiff claims ten thousand ($10,000.00) Dollars.
J. P. Stokes, Plaintiff’s Attorney.”
The following pleas were filed: (1) Not guilty; (2) that the alleged injury was contributed to directly by the negligence of the plaintiff in failing to close the said cock or valve with sufficient slowness when drawing acid; (8) that the operation by plaintiff of said cock or valve to permit the flow of acid was a part of plaintiff’s duty as an employee of the defendant, the risk of which' he assumed with full knowledge of the condition of said cock.
The third plea in effect avers merely that the plaintiff assumed the risk of the operation of the cock or valve with full knowledge of the condition of said cock. It was the duty of the defendant to know of the risks and probable consequences of the use of the cock in its then condition, in transmitting dangerous acid, and it was not the plaintiff’s duty to know it, therefore the plea is defective in not averring that the plaintiff knew of and appreciated or reasonably should have known of and appreciated the risks and probable consequences of the use of the cock in its then condition. This being so there was, in view of the allegations of the declaration as to the dangers of the employment, no error in sustaining the demurrer to the third plea.
An employer is in law bound to know the dangers and risks to personal safety that are incident to the business in which he employs others, and if an employee does not know of and appreciate the risks of his employment, he does not assume them. If the employer knew or reasonably should have known that an employee did not know of or appreciate the risks and dangers of the employment, and the employer does not duly advise the employee of the danger and risks, the employer may be liable for
It appears that the plaintiff had been working for the defendant fertilizer manufacturing company in its yard, and that a day or two before the injury complained of the plaintiff was directed by the Superintendent to work the kiln and to make the niter charges in the building. His brother who was employed by the defendant company told the plaintiff what his duties were. The cock in use in the pipe that transmitted the acid in making the niter charges was in a leaking condition. It was turned on and off with a piece of iron. The plaintiff had turned the acid on and off several times without injury. As he was again turning the cock or faucet, he was injured by the acid escaping from the cock. The plaintiff was shown how to turn the cock off and on and he saw the cock leaking, but there is positive testimony that the plaintiff did not know of the danger and was not told of the risks
The fact that the acid escaped from the cock in an unnatural or uncontrolled manner, when it Avas being used is evidence that the cock was defective thereby rendering the defendant liable in damages for its injurious consequences if the plaintiff had not knowingly assumed the risks and was not guilty of contributory negligence. While the inexperience of the plaintiff may account in some measure for his not avoiding the injury, that inexperience does not impute fault to him when though he knew of the leak in the cock, he should have been but was not fully informed of the dangers from the escaping acid that he did not know of.
Risks of unknown dangers are not assumed by an employee. ;
There is no such showing of negligence on the part of the plaintiff as will preclude a recover as a matter of, law. The verdict is not clearly contrary to the evidence.
The charges of the court were at least fair if not favorable to the defendant, and when considered as an entirety could not fairly be regarded as misleading in Anew of the testimony as to the plaintiff’s inexperience and the lack of warning to him of the dangers he was liable to encounter in the new work assigned to him by the defendant’s superintendent.
No other matters are presented for adjudication.
The judgment is affirmed.