Opinion ID: 2959684
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: James Harmon’s Jobsite Activities

Text: Draper Paving employed James Harmon as a paving superintendent, and Harmon was assigned to work the Route 419 project as the project supervisor. 1 Harmon also operated the front-end loader on the night of the accident because the original operator employee was unable to get to work. To get to the jobsite, Harmon drove a company pickup truck. Harmon used the pickup truck to transport himself, other Draper Paving employees, and tools to the jobsite. It was also Harmon’s “regular practice” to use the pickup truck as “a safety tool” by acting as a safety buffer between oncoming traffic and Draper Paving employees. To this end, the pickup truck was outfitted with a safety strobe light that would flash and spin when activated. 1 Although the circuit court did not mention Harmon’s positions in its letter opinion, the parties stipulated to Harmon’s paving superintendent position and to Harmon’s role on the Route 419 project as the project supervisor. At trial, the circuit court credited the fact that Harmon would defer only to Draper Paving’s operations manager when that operations manager was onsite. 3 Upon arriving at the jobsite for the Route 419 project, Harmon parked the pickup truck near the beginning of the worksite just beyond where the orange safety cones blocked oncoming traffic’s access to the right lane of Route 419. Harmon turned on all of the pickup truck’s lights, including the headlights, the hazard lights, and the safety strobe light. As Draper Paving’s work progressed along the highway, Harmon would move the pickup truck forward so that it would remain in close proximity to the working Draper Paving employees. At the time of the accident, the pickup truck was approximately 200 feet from where Slone and Harmon were working.