Opinion ID: 1692753
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Peculiar Risk

Text: Whalen next argues that U S West owed Whalen a duty because of our holding in Parrish v. Omaha Pub. Power Dist., 242 Neb. 783, 496 N.W.2d 902 (1993), that a general contractor has a duty to protect the employees of independent contractors from peculiar risks. Whalen asserts that the placement of the manhole cover assemblies was a peculiar risk. In Parrish v. Omaha Pub. Power Dist., 242 Neb. at 799-800, 496 N.W.2d at 913, we explained this duty as follows: [I]f a general contractor hires an independent contractor to perform work which the general contractor should recognize as likely to create during its progress a peculiar risk of physical harm to others unless special precautions are taken, the general contractor may be liable for physical harm caused to employees of the subcontractor if the general contractor fails to exercise reasonable care to take such precautions, even though the general contractor has provided, in the contract or otherwise, that the subcontractor be responsible for such precautions. We defined a peculiar risk to be a risk that involves some special hazard resulting from the nature of the work done which calls for some special precaution. We have held that the following two situations involved a particular risk. First, we found that having a steamfitter work near an opening on a floor deck of a building under construction which exposed 1-foot vertical reenforcing rods created a peculiar risk. Second, having a person paint the inside of an underground tank using a paint which emitted highly combustible fumes created a peculiar risk. See, Anderson v. Nashua Corp., 246 Neb. 420, 519 N.W.2d 275 (1994); Simon v. Omaha P.P. Dist., 189 Neb. 183, 202 N.W.2d 157 (1972). In the present case, the district court held that the peculiar risk doctrine did not apply. We agree. We find no facts that support a determination that the placement of manhole cover assemblies was anything unusual or that such a task created a peculiar risk.