Court Opinion

ID: 9699097
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:10:30.969954+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:46.453452
License: Public Domain

*221Brown, J.
It may be doubted that the portion of the building where plaintiff was at work and was injured is a public building within the meaning of the safe-place statute, in that the duty of the owner of a public building under the safe-place statute to maintain the building in a safe condition extends only to such portions which are used or held out to be used by the public or tenants in common. Delaney v. Supreme Investment Co. (1947), 251 Wis. 374, 381, 29 N. W. (2d) 754, 758. The duty of the owner of a public building to construct or maintain a building in safe condition extends only to such parts of the building as are used by the public or by three or more tenants in common. Hanlon v. St. Francis Seminary (1953), 264 Wis. 603, 606, 60 N. W. (2d) 381, 382. However, this is indisputably a place of employment and as such is included in the safe-place statute, sec. 101.06, Stats. 1955, and by its terms applying to both employer and owner, and which reads:
“Employer’s duty to furnish safe employment and place. Every employer shall furnish employment which shall be safe for the employees therein and shall furnish a place of employment which shall be safe for employees therein and for frequenters thereof and shall furnish and use safety devices and safeguards, and shall adopt and use methods and processes reasonably adequate to render such employment and places of employment safe, and shall do every other thing reasonably necessary to protect the life, health, safety, and welfare of such employees and frequenters. Every employer and every owner of a place of employment or a public building now or hereafter constructed shall so construct, repair, or maintain such place of employment or public building, and every architect shall so prepare the plans for the construction of such place of employment or public building, as to render the same safe.”
That statute was set forth and relied upon in plaintiff’s amended complaint.
*222The orders of the industrial commission concerning safety regulations have the force of law. Its order, sec. Ind 1.53, 2 Wis. Adm. Code, which is identical with its order, sec. Ind 52.03, 3 Wis. Adm. Code, provides:
“Window cleaning. (1) For protection of window cleaners in public buildings and places of employment, the tops of windows which are more than 20 feet above the ground floor, flat roof, balcony, or permanent platform shall be equipped with means to protect such cleaners; such means shall consist of;
“(a) Approved attachments for window cleaners’ safety belts, to which such belts may be fastened at each end. Said attachments shall be permanent devices that shall be firmly attached to the window frame, or to the building proper, and so designed that a standard safety belt may be attached thereto; or
“(b) An approved portable platform that is projected through the window or supported from the ground, floor, roof, or platform level, for the window cleaner to stand upon and that is designed, constructed, maintained, and equipped with handrail and toeboard in compliance with the requirements of the general orders on safety and of the general orders on safety in construction; or
“(c) A swinging scaffold or chair scaffold designed, constructed, equipped, and maintained in compliance with the requirements of the general orders on safety in construction, and in the case of a chair scaffold equipped with a safety belt; or
“(d) Other equally efficient devices.”
It is admitted that there were no attachments for safety belts, no platform, and no swinging scaffold or chair scaffold. The question is to determine whether some other equally efficient device was provided for the protection of the window cleaner. Neither of the defendants provided a safety device of any sort.
Industrial commission order, sec. Ind 1.53 (4), 2 Wis. Adm. Code, and order, sec. Ind 52.03 (4), 3 Wis. Adm. Code, recite:
*223“Every employer of window cleaners who are required or permitted to clean windows or skylights referred to in sec. Ind 1.53 (1) and (2) shall before permitting any of such work, make reasonable inspection of the equipment provided for the safety of the window cleaners; and if no such equipment, complying with the provisions of this order, is provided by the owner, lessee, or occupant of the building or place of employment, said employer shall provide the same before permitting his employees to do such work.
From this it is apparent that duplication of the safety devices is not required by the individual owner, tenant, and contract employer. It is sufficient if any one of them provides a safety device demanded by the order.
The only devices which the defendants allege to have been provided by anyone are extension ladders especially designed for window-cleaning operations. Plaintiff and his associate brought with them in their truck a number of such ladders of sufficient height to reach above the windows to be washed. These ladders have siderails which curve toward each other at the top and thus taper to a point. They are so designed to prevent the ladder slipping where it rests against the wall or window sill at its higher end. It also had rubber shoes at the lower ends of the siderails so that the ladder would not slip at the bottom. The plaintiff does not complain that the ladders were not good ladders but he does submit that the ladder is not an “equally efficient device” as specified in order, sec. Ind 1.53, Wis. Adm. Code, and order, sec. Ind 52.03, 3 Wis. Adm: Code. He places some reliance on the definition of ladders given in order, sec. Ind 1.15, 2 Wis. Adm. Code, which is:
“Ladders. (1) Definition. A ladder is an appliance usually consisting of two siderails joined at regular intervals by crosspieces called steps, rungs, or cleats, on which a person may step in ascending or descending.”
*224From this he argues that a ladder may be used only in going up or down but not in standing on a ladder to work from it. We do not think that the definition in itself includes any such limitation of the user’s activity. This definition of “ladder” is simply the dictionary definition with no particular reference to industrial commission safety orders. Thus Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines:
“Ladder. An appliance consisting of two long sidepieces, usually parallel, joined at intervals by crosspieces on which a person may step in ascending or descending.”
We know, as every person past babyhood knows, what a ladder is and that ladders are very commonly used to stand upon them while working. But the tops of the windows which the plaintiff was to wash were more than 20 feet above the ground floor. The question is whether the ladders which Adept Window Cleaning Company supplied or made available to the plaintiff were devices equally efficient from a safety standpoint as were attachments for safety belts firmly attached to the structure of the building or portable platforms with guardrails or the swinging scaffolds or chair scaffolds described in order, sec. Ind 1.53, 2 Wis. Adm. Code. We hold as a matter of law that they are not.
We regard questions (1) and (3) of the special verdict, summarized in our foregoing statement of facts, as theoretically inadequate because the questions dealt only with the effect of the omission of safety-belt attachments. The industrial commission’s orders approve other safety devices, so the absence of any certain one of the approved devices does not conclude the inquiry into the question of whether the place was made safe. Practically, upon this record, the form and scope of those questions become immaterial because no “equally efficient devices” were provided by anyone and the omission of all such devices by all persons charged with a duty to provide at least one such device *224arenders unsafe the place where the appellant was ordered or permitted to work.
Joseph Taylor, the president of the window-cleaning company, testified that he had told the plaintiff not to stand out on the window sill but should use a ladder. He had previously put Gupton on a job, washing the outside of windows and using a safety belt, but Gupton had nearly fallen on a certain job when he detached the belt to move his position and at that time Taylor told Gupton that he would not put him in belts any more and that his duties would be to work either with ladders or to work on the inside.
Gupton himself testified that the ladders they had brought to the job were in good condition, that he had used them in washing other windows, that his employer had rules against standing on the ledge without a belt. Nevertheless, although he saw that there were no safety-belt attachments and that ladders were available for use on the truck, which at least were safer to work from than from the narrow ledge, he opened the window and crawled out on the ledge, in disobedience of the orders given by the president of the employer. In choosing this indisputably dangerous method he could be found guilty of contributory negligence. The jury found that he was and the evidence sustains the finding.
The appellant submits that the court erred in using the term “ordinary prudent person” in its instructions relating to defendants’ duty. This is substantially the instruction approved in Powless v. Milwaukee County (1959), 6 Wis. (2d) 78, 81, 94 N. W. (2d) 187, 189. We do not consider that the instruction was error.
Neither defendant provided an approved safety device for the protection of plaintiff in his place of employment but the contributory factor of plaintiff’s own negligence can only be resolved and apportioned by a jury. This requires a new trial, and we have concluded to grant one on all issues.
By the Court. — Judgment reversed. Cause remanded for a new trial.
*224bThe following opinion was filed April 13, 1960: