Park Utah Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission

220 P. 389, 62 Utah 421, 1923 Utah LEXIS 117
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1923
DocketNo. 4009
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 220 P. 389 (Park Utah Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Park Utah Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission, 220 P. 389, 62 Utah 421, 1923 Utah LEXIS 117 (Utah 1923).

Opinion

GIDEON, J.

Review of an award by the Industrial Commission.

- On September 27, 1922, Terrence McNulty was injured by an accident arising out of and in the course of his employment by the plaintiff, Park Utah Mining Company. Application was made to the Industrial Commission, and compensation awarded. On February 20, 1923, McNulty filed a further application with the Commission for additional compensation, on the ground that the injuries received were caused by the willful failure of his employer to comply with the regulations of the Commission in not installing a bulletin or blackboard within its mine to have reported thereon any blasts that had failed to fire or explode, referred to in the record as “missed holes”; the purpose being that the on-going shifts of miners might know of the fact of missed holes for their safety and protection.

[423]*423The application here is to review an award made upon the hearing had pursuant to the petition of February 20, 1923.

The Commission made the following findings:

“That on the 27th day of September, 1922, Terrence McNulty, while picking out for a set of timbers in the Park Utah Mine, picked into a missed hole, which caused an explosion and severe injuries to the applicant about the face, hands and body.
“That Axel Peterson, on September 27, 1922, was employed -by the Park Utah Mining Company at Park City, Utah, on the opposite shift to the applicant, and had drilled a hole at one side of the drift to make room for the foot of a post. This was the hole that misfired and the one that the applicant picked into. Mr. Peterson' failed to notify the foreman of the mine or any one in authority regarding the missed hole.
“That the Park Mining Company has not provided a blackboard or bulletin board for the reporting of missed holes thereon; they relied upon their employés reporting to the shift boss or some official in authority of such missed holes.
“On the 15th day of August, 1919, the Commission adopted General Safety Orders covering underground metal mines operations, and said orders were in effect on September 27, 1922. On page 18 of said Safety Orders, section 22, subsec. (b), provides as follows:
“ ‘ (b) The number of explosions in every blast, except in cases of simultaneous firing, shall be counted by the man firing the same, and if the total number of explosions is less than the number of charges, a report of the discrepancy shall be made as the superintendent shall direct. Whenever feasible the superintendent shall provide a bulletin on which reports of missed holes shall be posted, so that they can be seen by any man going on duty. When a blast has been fixed, and it is not certain that all the charges have exploded, no person shall enter the place where such charges were placed within 45 minutes after the explosion, and any case of uncertainty shall be considered as a missed hole.’
“That it would have been feasible to have provided a bulletin board on which to report missed holes in this particular mine, the Park Utah mine.”

It further appears that it was the custom, and the employés of the plaintiff mining company were required, in going off shift, to report to the shift boss the fact of any blasts having misfired during the closing shift; and in turn it was the duty of the shift boss to report such fact to the on-going employés.

The contention is that neither the findings of the Commis-sionu nor the testimony warrants the conclusion of the Commission and its order awarding additional compensation.

[424]*424The determination of the question presented requires a construction of Comp. Laws Utah 1917, § 3072, as amended by chapter 67, Laws Utah 1921. That section reads as follows:

“No employer shall require or knowingly permit any employe to he in any employment or place of employment which is not safe, and no such employer shall fail to provide, and use safety devices and safeguards, or fail to obey and follow orders of the Commission, or to adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render such employment and place of employment safe, and no employer shall fail or neglect to do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of his em-ployés; and no employer or other person shall hereafter construct or occupy or maintain any place of employment that is not safe. Where injury is caused by the willful failure of the employer to comply with any statute of the state or any lawfu^ order of the Industrial Commission, compensation as provided in this act shall be increased fifteen per cent., except in case of injury resulting in death.”

We are concerned with the last sentence of that section, namely, “Where injury is caused by the willful failure of the employer to comply,” etc. Evidently it was the view of the Commission that failure to comply with its general order of August 15, 1919, as set out in the findings, constituted willful failure on the part of the employer to comply with that order.

It should be stated that there is no evidence in the record that any notice had been given, or suggestion made, to the plaintiff mining company that the method employed by it was not satisfactory to the Commission, or that the Commission considered the method employed as less likely to accomplish the purpose for which the order had been issued. In fact, it is not shown that the mining company had any actual knowledge of the existence of this general order.

Many of the other states have provisions in their Workmen’s Compensation Acts of like import to that found in our statute. In the construction of those provisions the courts have not attempted any statement or definition of what acts of omission or commission constitute or go to make up a willful failure or a serious failure to comply with the provisions of the statutes or rightful orders made by the boards or commissions. It is probably not desirable nor possible to include [425]*425within a definition, of those terms all of the elements or wbat particular elements in any given case enter into a willful violation of the statute or of the Commission’s orders. The authorities, however, are agreed that negligence alone, or even gross negligence, is not sufficient to constitute “willful failure” or “serious failure” to comply with the requirements of the statute or orders of the Commission. There is nothing in the findings or in the evidence before the Commission to indicate or suggest that the plaintiff mining company or its superintendent was acting in disregard of the safety of its employes, or to indicate a willingness on the part of the superintendent to inflict injury upon the employes. On the contrary, the evidence is undisputed to the effect that the plaintiff mining company considered it the safer method to require the workmen coming off shift to report any missed holes to the shift boss, and he in turn would advise the workmen going into the mine of such fact.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Christiansen v. Harrison Western
2021 UT 65 (Utah Supreme Court, 2021)
Van Waters & Rogers v. Workman
700 P.2d 1096 (Utah Supreme Court, 1985)
Salas v. Industrial Commission
564 P.2d 1119 (Utah Supreme Court, 1977)
Bryan v. Utah International
533 P.2d 892 (Utah Supreme Court, 1975)
Western Clay & Metals Co. v. Industrial Commission
259 P. 927 (Utah Supreme Court, 1927)
Utah Consol. Mining Co. v. Industrial Commission
240 P. 440 (Utah Supreme Court, 1925)
Utah C.M. Co. v. Ind. Com.
240 P. 440 (Utah Supreme Court, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
220 P. 389, 62 Utah 421, 1923 Utah LEXIS 117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/park-utah-mining-co-v-industrial-commission-utah-1923.