Hensley v. Western North Carolina Lumber Co.

WaliceR, J., after stating the case: There was testimony which tended, more or less, to support the two opposite contentions. The defendant abandons all exceptions except the one in regard to the chain, and as to that it contends that it was a small tool, requiring no special inspection from the master, and being so, it was the duty of the plaintiff to discover any defect and report it to the defendant, for he was in a better position than was the defendant to know of any defect, as he handled it all the time it was in use. But this contention is fully met and overcome by testimony that the chain was too small for that kind of work, where it was subjected to a heavy strain, and was not strong enough to withstand it. One witness, an expert, testified that the chain was too small for that kind of work. He said, “I do not think that this chain was sufficient for the work required to be done, it was a tackle block chain, made small to go through the rings of a tackle block.” There was also other evidence tending to show that defendant had not furnished a safe place for plaintiff to work, or a safe way for doing his work, so that the mere breaking of the chain, and the lack of proper inspection by the defendant, were not the only evidences of negligence. We do not mean to decide that it was not the defendant’s duty to inspect the chain, or that it comes within the class of small tools. It is not necessary that we should do so. The case of King v. R. R., 174 N. C., 39, seems to be directly in point. It cites Wright v. Thompson, 171 N. C., 88, and Rogerson v. Hontz, 174 N. C., 27, where the Court held, as stated in the syllabus of the case, that the rule relieving an employer from liability for a personal injury caused by a defective implement of an ordinary kind to be used in an ordinary way, furnished by him to his employee for the work required of him, has no application when he knew, or should have known, of the defects by reasonable inspection, and that its use threatened substantial injury; and where an employer furnished an inexperienced employee a defective cant hook, under his protest, to unload heavy logs from a flat car, and the employee was injured shortly thereafter by reason of the breaking of the implement which he had been instructed to use, a judgment of nonsuit’is improperly granted, and the issue of defendant’s actionable negligence is for the determination of the jury. *577 In Rogerson v. Hontz, supra, known as the "Gant hook case," the hook was insufficient, in size and strength, for rolling the heavy logs. It is well settled that the master is required to furnish tools, machinery, and implements suitable for the work to be done, and to provide a reasonably safe place and proper rules and methods for doing it. There was evidence that defendant failed to perform the duty he owed to the plaintiff, apart from that in respect to the defect in one of the links, which was specified by the defendant’s counsel as insufficient to charge him with negligence. No error.