Hoffman v. E. W. Bliss Co., 882S320

Citation448 N.E.2d 277
Decision Date04 May 1983
Docket NumberNo. 882S320,882S320
PartiesKent William HOFFMAN, et al., Appellants, v. E.W. BLISS COMPANY, et al., Appellees.
CourtSupreme Court of Indiana

Douglas D. Church, Church, Roberts & Beerbower, Noblesville, for appellants.

Evan E. Steger, Margaret C.A. Young, Ice, Miller, Donadio & Ryan, Indianapolis, for appellee E.W. Bliss Co.

John A. Perrin, Auberry, Stanek & Perrin, Indianapolis, for appellee Rockford Safety Equipment Co.

GIVAN, Chief Justice.

This case was tried before a jury. A verdict was rendered in favor of all defendants. Appeal was taken by plaintiffs-appellants to the Court of Appeals. Pursuant to Ind.R.App.P. 15(M), this appeal is transferred to this Court.

Plaintiffs Kent and Nancy Hoffman filed suit against various defendants as a result of injuries suffered by Kent Hoffman while he was working as an employee of Regency Electronics, Inc. The defendants originally named in the suit were E.W. Bliss Company, Humston Machinery, Inc., and Rockford Safety Equipment Company. Humston Machinery was dismissed from the action by agreement of the parties prior to trial. Rockford has been dismissed from the appeal by agreement of the parties during pendency of the appeal. Thus we decide the issues only as they apply to appellants Hoffman and appellee Bliss.

The record shows the following facts. Bliss, a Michigan corporation and a division of Gulf and Western Manufacturing Company, Inc., is a manufacturer of various types of metal punch presses for use in manufacturing operations. Sometime in 1965 a Bliss punch press was sold to Regency for use in the latter's machine shop in Indianapolis. Sometime thereafter Regency contracted with Rockford, a firm specializing in designing and distributing safety equipment for use on metal working machinery, for the purchase of a package of safety equipment on the Bliss press. Oliver Daugherty, Regency's machine shop maintenance supervisor, testified he installed this package of safety equipment on the Bliss press.

The record shows metal punch presses of this type are used to punch out impressions in pieces of sheet metal. This particular press used a hydraulic power system to provide sixty (60) tons of pressure to punch the impressions in the pieces of sheet metal being processed. The basics of the mechanical operation of the press are as follows. The shape and size of the impression to be punched out are controlled by two dies. The functional area of the machine, the point of operation, is a large flat area. Two dies are attached to the press in the point of operation area. The lower die is stationary while the upper one is attached to the essential moving part of the machine, the ram. In a single operational cycle, the ram with die attached descends to smash out the desired impression and then returns to its position above the point of operation. After several cycles have been run, the pieces cut out of the production material must be removed from the point of operation to prevent misalignment of the new production material to be put in the lower die.

The press in question is manufactured with the knowledge that more than one mode of operation is possible with the machine, depending on the needs of the purchaser of the press. Thus it can be equipped with different control devices with which it may be activated to cause one cycle of operation, i.e., one descent of the ram to occur. It was Rockford which supplied these control devices. One such device was a foot pedal which was housed in a metal box set on the floor under the press. The operator, who sits on a stool in front of the press, simply depresses the foot pedal to cause one cycle of the operation to occur. The other means of activating the press is by simultaneous depression of two large buttons, called palm buttons, located on either side of the press. The safety advantage of the use of the palm buttons is that the operator is required to have both hands away from the point of operation in order to activate the press for a cycle of operation. Additionally the press is equipped with devices called pullbacks. The pullbacks are a pair of long metal arms with extendable cables attached to the arms and running into the body of the press. At the end of the cables are harnesses or restraints that are to be attached to the operator's hands or wrists. When the operator uses the pullbacks and activates the press for a cycle of operation, the metal arms and cables operate in such a way as to force his hands away from the point of operation as the ram descends. Whether the press is to be operated by the foot pedal or the palm buttons is controlled by means of keys set in a control box located on the right side of the press. Only by switching the pair of keys in the control box could the mode of operation of the press be changed; simultaneous operation of the press via the foot pedal and the palm buttons is impossible.

Additionally, Rockford included in its package of safety equipment and controls warning signs to be attached to the press. One such sign was attached to the control box located on the right side of the press and stated:

"WARNING

This control is not intended for use without point of operation devices or guards. Adequate safety equipment must be provided for operator's protection. Metal fabricating machines are very dangerous .... Maximum safety should always be exercised to prevent accidents."

A yellow plastic sign approximately four by six inches was introduced into evidence. Printed on it in large black letters was the following:

"CAUTION

Do not operate unless safety guards or devices are in place and adjusted properly."

The record shows this sign was not affixed to the press. John McAlister, Rockford's president, testified it was customary for Rockford to include this sign in the package of safety equipment with instructions to affix it to the front of the press. Oliver Daugherty testified he never saw a sign like this in the package of safety equipment.

Also included in the safety equipment package supplied by Rockford were various manuals and instruction booklets relative to installation of the equipment. These were also admitted into evidence.

The testimony taken at trial as to the precise manner in which the accident occurred is conflicting on some points. Hoffman testified he began working at Regency in its machine shop on February 23, 1976. On March 4, 1976, the day of the accident, he was assigned to work on the Bliss press for the first time. He testified he was shown how to operate the press by Bernis Thompson, Regency's "lead man" in the machine shop, whose duty it was to generally instruct employees on proper operation of the equipment in the machine shop. Hoffman testified Thompson ran one or two pieces of production material through the press and that the total amount of instruction time he received was about five minutes. He testified the press was set up to operate by using the foot pedal and not the palm buttons. Hoffman testified he was not shown how to use either the palm buttons or the pullbacks. He testified he was not given any tools with which to remove scraps from the point of operation when it was necessary to do so and that he removed scraps with his bare right hand. Hoffman further testified he found the press was operating improperly, in that it was often necessary to hit the foot pedal two or three times to get the ram to descend. He testified he told Thompson about this problem. Thompson neither verified nor denied that Hoffman told him of this problem.

Hoffman testified that at about 2:30 P.M. that afternoon he had just punched out an impression in a piece of production material and that, as was necessary every few cycles, he reached into the point of operation beneath the ram to remove the scraps that had collected there. While his right hand was in that area and without warning or activation by him, the ram suddenly descended crushing his fingers. Most of his index finger and all of the next two fingers of his right hand were severed and his little finger was partially crushed. Hoffman testified that when the ram descended his foot was completely out of the control box housing the foot pedal.

Bernis Thompson testified he always told an employee operating the press for the first time of the use of the safety equipment incorporated into the press and that he remembered so instructing Hoffman. He admitted, however, on cross-examination, he could not recall specifically doing so with regard to Hoffman. He also testified he never had experienced any problem with the activation of cycles of operation using the foot pedal.

Terry Weddle, a Regency employee who on the day of the accident was working at the work station in the machine shop next to Hoffman, testified he was looking directly at Hoffman at the moment the ram descended on his hand. He stated at that moment Hoffman's foot was nowhere near the foot pedal.

Much testimony was taken regarding the cause of the descent of the ram. Hoffman's theory as to this cause was that the press "double tripped." Testimony showed a double trip of a press occurs when following a normal cycle of the press a second cycle occurs without warning and without any operator initiation. Raymond Brach, a Notre Dame associate professor of engineering called as an expert witness by Hoffman, testified presses of this type did sometimes double trip and explained why such action occurs. However, he admitted he inspected the press after the accident and found no evidence a double trip could have occurred. Joseph Schwalje, a professor of engineering at Pratt Institute in New York, was called as an expert witness by Bliss. He testified a single cycle, i.e., a descent and return of the ram, took place over an elapsed time of six-tenths of a second. He also testified when a true double trip occurred, the second uninitiated descent of the ram occurred immediately after the ram returned to the top of the press from the...

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