Opinion ID: 1894152
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Did Westinghouse Owe Hannah a Duty to Inspect the Belt Wrapper for Safety or to Warn of Dangers of the Belt Wrapper?

Text: Westinghouse also contends that it owed no duty to Hannah to provide guarding for the belt wrapper. Relying upon R.L. Reid, Inc. v. Plant, 350 So.2d 1022 (Ala.1977), and Mueller Co. v. Trambeam Corp., 693 So.2d 1380 (Ala.Civ.App. 1997), Westinghouse contends that its work was unrelated to the belt wrapper. Westinghouse argues that, because it was not involved with any mechanical aspects of the belt wrapper, it owed no duty to inspect the belt wrapper and that it cannot be held liable for any alleged negligence relating to the belt wrapper. The standard of duty this Court applied to GB & B, as stated earlier, was set forth in McFadden: `An independent contractor owes no duty to third persons to judge the plans, specifications or instructions which he has merely contracted to follow. If the contractor carefully carries out the specifications provided him, he is justified in relying upon the adequacy of the specifications unless they are so obviously dangerous that no competent contractor would follow them.' 529 So.2d at 200, quoting Hunt v. Blasius, 74 Ill.2d at 209, 384 N.E.2d at 371, 23 Ill.Dec. at 577. The standard set forth in McFadden, however, is inapplicable to Westinghouse because Westinghouse's role in the design and construction of the electrical control system was more than that of a contractor. Westinghouse did not simply follow plans and specifications to design the electrical control system. Reynolds provided Westinghouse with a layout of the electrical control system it wanted and specified the types of devices to include in the operator stations. Westinghouse actually designed the schematic for the sequence of operations of the CAL. According to Hannah's electrical engineering expert, Reynolds relied upon Westinghouse to design the logic circuitry and to decide what components would be placed in the logic circuitry and how the actions performed by the circuitry would be represented. The McFadden test is therefore inapplicable. Instead, Westinghouse's duty hinges upon foreseeability. A duty of care arises when it is foreseeable that harm may result if care is not exercised. Lance, Inc. v. Ramanauskas, 731 So.2d 1204, 1208 (Ala.1999). Westinghouse argues that R.L. Reid and Mueller are both applicable to the question of duty. However, after careful consideration of both cases, we conclude that R.L. Reid and Mueller are distinguishable from the present case. In R.L. Reid, the plaintiff sued R.L. Reid, a consulting engineering firm, arguing that its faulty specifications of a loading facility had caused the death of her husband. 350 So.2d at 1023. Specifically, the plaintiff argued that the defendant had negligently failed to provide a guard to shield workers from the opening of a belt feeder, a machine used to transfer bulk ore to railroad cars, for loading on the cars. 350 So.2d at 1023. The plaintiff's husband, a crane operator at the facility, was killed when his body was pulled through the opening of the belt feeder. 350 So.2d at 1025. Before the accident, the Alabama State Docks Department had hired R.L. Reid to prepare the plans and specifications for the modification of its loading facility. Significantly, the evidence indicated that the plan originally submitted by R.L. Reid would have made the machine inaccessible to workers at the loading facility. 350 So.2d at 1027. The State Docks, however, opted not to follow those plans. Had they done so, the danger of the opening in the belt feeder would have been alleviated, and a guard would not have been necessary. Based upon that evidence, this Court concluded that the plaintiff had failed to establish that R.L. Reid had breached any duty to the decedent by failing to recommend the installation of a safeguard at the point where the decedent met his death. Id. at 1027. In the present case, there is no indication that Westinghouse suggested the inclusion of an interlocking device or any pressure- or presence-sensing devices that would have deactivated power to the belt wrapper and prevented the accident that killed Jerry Hannah. The evidence is uncontradicted that, unlike R.L. Reid, Westinghouse provided no safety features in its design and construction of the control panels and electrical circuits for the CAL. Hannah introduced two experts who both testified that Westinghouse should have known to include a safety device, such as an interlocking or pressure-sensing device, in the electrical controls. Mueller, a case decided by the Court of Civil Appeals, is also distinguishable. In Mueller, the defendant, HSI, was hired only to inspect the mechanical functions of a bridge crane and runway system of a foundry used to produce fire hydrants. The facility operated two overhead cranes that were supported by hangers connected by bolts to a track or runway. The owner of the foundry sued HSI when one of those bolts fractured, causing the crane to collapse. 693 So.2d at 1382. In support of its argument that it owed no duty to the plaintiff to inspect the cranes on the runway system, HSI submitted expert testimony indicating that the runway system did not have any electrical or mechanical components that HSI would have been required to inspect. 693 So.2d at 1385. Based upon this evidence, the Court of Civil Appeals concluded that HSI owed no duty to the foundry, because the collapse of the crane was unrelated to any mechanical function. 693 So.2d at 1385. In the present case, Hannah submitted the deposition testimony and affidavits of a mechanical engineer, Dr. Ryan, and the deposition testimony of an electrical engineer, Dr. Conner, who both agreed that the electrical controls provided by Westinghouse directly controlled the movement and the retraction of the belt wrapper. Dr. Ryan, Hannah's mechanical engineering expert, testified that the electrical controls Westinghouse designed told the belt wrapper when to go and how to do it. According to Hannah's experts, Westinghouse could have designed a safety feature within the electrical control system that would have prevented the accident that killed Jerry Hannah. In addition, Dr. Ryan, Hannah's mechanical engineering expert, and Les Rice, a former McKay project engineer, both testified in deposition that, because the buttons on the control panel were exposed, it was foreseeable that someone would mistakenly hit the wrong button. According to Dr. Ryan, Westinghouse should have included an electrical lockout feature in its design to reduce the risk of harm to workers on the CAL. Rice testified that it was standard electrical engineering practice to include an interlock or prevent mode in the system to prevent damage to the machinery or harm to personnel. Rice also testified that this normally would have been the responsibility of McKay, the manufacturer of the belt wrapper; however, if McKay failed to do so, Westinghouse should have noticed the absence of an interlock or prevent mode and brought it to McKay's attention. Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Hannah, as we must, we hold that Hannah presented substantial evidence creating a jury question as to whether Westinghouse owed a duty of care to Hannah.