Opinion ID: 490564
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Testimony Concerning the Compressor

Text: 8 As set out above, the air compressor had a lifting eye in its roof to which a crane or sling could be attached. In order to provide access to the eye, Ingersoll-Rand built a step inside the compressor and a door in the ceiling that opened to the roof. Someone standing on the step could open the ceiling door and reach the lifting eye. Alan Dorris, Ingersoll-Rand's expert, testified that such internal access provided the safest means of reaching the lifting eye, because it eliminated the risk of falling off of the roof or a ladder. 9 Unfortunately, neither Vickers nor his crew mates knew about the internal access. The ceiling door was hidden from view, and no notice on the compressor informed workers of the internal roof access. Even Dorris admitted that if you were not making an effort to look for it, I don't think you would notice [the ceiling] door. 10 The district court found that the ceiling door was difficult to detect. It suggested that Ingersoll-Rand might have been well advised to print a notice on the compressor advertising the obscure, internal access. The court went on, however, to hold that the compressor was not defective for normal use, because, in normal operations, [the] compressor would have been moved by or in the presence of painters who knew about the internal access.