State ex rel. Garza v. Industrial Commission

763 N.E.2d 174, 94 Ohio St. 3d 397
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 6, 2002
DocketNo. 00-1813
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 763 N.E.2d 174 (State ex rel. Garza v. Industrial Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Garza v. Industrial Commission, 763 N.E.2d 174, 94 Ohio St. 3d 397 (Ohio 2002).

Opinion

Per Curiam.

On February 4, 1996, appellant-claimant, Graciela Garza, was working as a finisher for appellee Lear Corporation. Claimant was assigned to Fixture Number 85, a pneumatic press that manufactured parts for automobile heating and air conditioning units.

As described by an investigator:

“When the press is activated by activating dual sensors located on each side of the press, the ram comes down and severs the lightweight plastic tube into three [398]*398pieces. One of the pieces is discarded and the other two (2) are used for the automotive part. The operator has to physically reach in with his (her) hand into the press to remove the parts. [On the date in question], the dual sensor start buttons were mounted below the surface of the presses’s [sic] table in front of the operator. * * * The start buttons which activated the press are infrared and it is necessary to activate both simultaneously in order to cause the ram (platen) of the press to come down. The press is equipped with fixed barrier guards around the sides, rear, top, and a portion of the front. However there is an open space (as measured by this investigator) in front of the presses’s [sic] point of operation of approximately twenty-two (22) inches [by] eighteen (18) inches. This space or area exposes the presses’s [sic] point of operation to the operator’s hands/body. * * * The start sensor buttons are required to be activated simultaneously by the operator to cause the ram of the press to come down. If the operator removes his (her) finger(s) from the buttons, the platen will return to [its] original or open position near the upper portion of the press.”

Midway through claimant’s shift, scrap began piling up in the press. She reached in to remove it when something — possibly her body or a loose shirt— apparently contacted the infrared light beams that activate the sensor, causing the ram to descend on her arm.

After her workers’ compensation claim was allowed, claimant applied to appellee Industrial Commission of Ohio for additional compensation, alleging that Lear had committed several violations of specific safety requirements (“VSSR”). A staff hearing officer (“SHO”) denied the application:

“It is the finding of the [SHO] that the application * * * be denied for the reason that the injury occurred after the entire closing cycle of the press.

“Claimant’s counsel narrowed the scope of the alleged violations at hearing to [Ohio Adm.Code] 4121:1-5-11. That code section identifies six (6) acceptable methods of guarding. The machine in question was pneumatically operated and utilized a two-hand control method of guarding. Therefore, the applicable specific section would be 4121.Y-5-ll(E)(3). That provision describes a two-hand control as ‘an actuating device which requires the simultaneous use of both hands outside the danger zone DURING THE ENTIRE CLOSING CYCLE OF THE PRESS’ (emphasis added). Claimant testified that the injury occurred at a point in time when she had finished making the car parts and was cleaning out flashing from the machine. (See p. 22 of transcript.) It was the employer’s argument that because of this, the holding in State ex rel. Aspinwall v. Industrial Commission (1988), 40 [Ohio St.3d] 55 [531 N.E.2d 681] precludes finding a Violation of a Specific Safety Requirement. The Staff Hearing Officer agrees. That case reads in pertinent part, ‘If the General Assembly intended the danger zone to be guarded at all times, there would have been no need for the limiting [399]*399language “during the operating cycle.” Moreover, a two-handed tripping device is specifically enumerated as an acceptable method of “operating cycle” protection.’ (Ibid., at 57 [531 N.E.2d at 684].) The court went on to cite to a previous decision in State ex rel. Gentzler Tool & Die [Corp.] v. Indus. Comm. (1985), 18 [Ohio St.3d] 103 at 105 [18 OBR 137, 139, 480 N.E.2d 397, 399] noting that the provision did ‘not require that a power press operator’s hands be guarded from ever entering the danger zone. Rather, it is only required that an operator’s hands be guarded from entering the danger zone “during the [machine’s] operating cycle.” ’

“A reasonable reading of this case is that ‘operating cycle’ refers to that period where the operator activates the machine with the intent to make a part. Such is not the case in claimant’s situation. It is uncontroverted that she had finished making all her car parts and then was cleaning out the press when the injury happened.” (Emphasis sic.)

In denying rehearing, a second SHO added:

“No mistake of fact is found in this case for the reasons explained below.

“The claimant alleged that the finding by the Hearing Officer that claimant’s injury didn’t occur during the operating cycle of the press was a factual mistake.

“The Hearing Officer explained that the claimant at the time of injury had finished making car parts and the press accidentally cycled when she was cleaning out flashing from the machine. He further stated that because this injury occurred when the claimant was cleaning out the press * * * the press was not in an operating cycle because the operating cycle refers to a period when the operator activates the machine with the intent to make a part, which was not the case when the injury occurred.

“The claimant, however, argued that the press was in operating cycle because when the press accidentally cycled while the claimant was cleaning it, a new operating cycle was initiated.

“The claimant’s contention that a new operating cycle was initiated when the press was actually started is rejected. State ex rel. Aspinwall v. Industrial Commission (1988), 40 [Ohio St.3d] 55 [531 N.E.2d 681] specifically held that ‘operating cycle’ is confined to operator-intended press activation.

“When the press was activated causing the claimant’s injury it was not [a] deliberately] intended activation as a review of the transcript clearly shows this activation was accidental in nature.

“Therefore, because the activation of the press was not operator intended the Hearing Officer’s determination that injury didn’t occur during the operating cycle of the press was not a factual error.” (Emphasis added in part.)

[400]*400Claimant filed a complaint in mandamus in the Court of Appeals for Franklin County, alleging that the commission abused its discretion in denying an award for violation of a specific safety regulation (“VSSR”). Agreeing that the accident did not happen during the operating cycle, the court of appeals denied the writ.

This cause is now before this court upon an appeal as of right.

Ohio Adm.Code 4121:l-5-ll(E) states:

“Every hydraulic or pneumatic (air-powered) press shall be constructed, or shall be guarded, to prevent the hands or fingers of the operator from entering the danger zone during the operating cycle. Acceptable methods of guarding are:

i(* * *

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Related

State ex rel. Gilbert v. Industrial Commission
116 Ohio St. 3d 243 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2007)
State Ex Rel. Gerstenslager Co. v. Wilson, 06ap-512 (5-31-2007)
2007 Ohio 2657 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 2007)
State ex rel. Garza v. Indus. Comm.
2002 Ohio 890 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2002)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
763 N.E.2d 174, 94 Ohio St. 3d 397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-garza-v-industrial-commission-ohio-2002.