Supervisor didn’t tell staffer about the hazards of the job

Safety insight: Don’t wait for a member of your crew to get hurt before you take steps to safeguard staffers handling jobs that could possibly lead to a severe injury.

What happened: A worker was told to clean a pit located next to a conveyor system. The pit contained scrap material from the production process and had to be cleaned about once a week. The staffer received no training on the task, nor was he warned about the potential hazards of the job.

What people did: The crew member was inside the 5-foot-deep pit removing materials when his glove got caught in rotating parts on the nearby conveyor system. His hand and arm were pulled into the ruthless machine. His arm was severely crushed. The victim was approved for workers’ comp benefits.

Legal challenge: The crew member sued for damages beyond comp, contending that his injury was substantially certain to occur because the conveyor system wasn’t properly guarded. Plus, the machinery wasn’t locked out before he went into the pit.

Result: The company won. The court said the worker failed to prove that his injury was substantially certain to occur. The judge said there had been no previous injuries suffered by staff members performing the job. And no one had complained that the task was hazardous. While the employer might have been negligent, there wasn’t enough evidence to prove that the company knew the staffer would get hurt.

The skinny: It’s usually hard for injured workers seeking damages beyond comp to prevail in court when there were no previous injury incidents similar to what happened to them.

Citation: Williams v. International Paper Co., U.S. District Court, D. New Jersey, No. 21-19765, 6/28/24.

(From the August 19, 2024, issue of Safety Alert for Supervisors. To start your no-obligation trial subscription to the publication right now, please click here.)