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Alexander v. Demmer Corporation8/20/2002
UNPUBLISHED
Plaintiff filed suit under the intentional tort exception of the Workers' Disability Compensation Act (WDCA), MCL 418.131(1), following a workplace accident at defendant Demmer Corporation's Delta plant that resulted in amputation of both her hands and both of her lower arms. Plaintiff appeals as of right the circuit court's dismissal of her claim. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.
I.
Defendant's Delta plant is a metal fabrication and stamping business employing approximately seventy employees. One of the Delta plant's six or seven presses is called the "new Danly" line. Plaintiff's injuries occurred while she was helping her crew leader hand-clean the pinch rollers of one of the new Danly line's components, a McKay Combination Strip Cleaning & Processing Machine (which defendant denominated the "R-1062" for in-house purposes).
Sheet steel drawn from large coils passes through the R-1062's two sets of rollers, pinch rollers and leveling/straightening rollers, in that order. The pinch rollers are approximately ten inches in diameter and about eight feet long, are electrically controlled, and air powered, i.e., are raised and lowered/opened and closed together pneumatically. When in forward motion, the pinch rollers rotate toward each other, creating an in-running pinch point that draws the steel in and crushes or flattens it. The pinch and leveling/straightening rollers are powered by the same motor and run together. Power is directed to both sets of rollers by a single switch and an operator can control the rotation direction of both sets of rollers with a single switch.
Plaintiff had worked for defendant several days in December 1997 as a stacker (stacking truck hoods as they came off presses). Several weeks later, she was returned to work at the Delta plant, on January 5, 1998, as a stacker on the second shift. Plaintiff was one of a four- member crew assigned to the new Danly line. Mary Garcia was the crew leader, and Antonio Winston and Dexter Robertson were the remaining two crew members. Garcia's crew was running "exposed" steel through the new Danly line on January 5, 1998, and continued to run exposed steel on the day of plaintiff's accident, January 6, 1998. Demmer's automotive customers install "exposed steel" on the exterior of vehicles, thus it must be free of surface flaws or defects. As a result, Demmer instructed its employees that the rollers through which the steel is fed be cleaned between each coil when running exposed steel.
Plaintiff's complaint alleged that the "smooth, rotating [R-1062 pinch] rollers can grip clothing, hair, rags, skin and force a hand or arm into the pinch point causing severe crushing injuries which frequently result in amputation;" that "machine designers, tool makers, metal stampers and others engaged in the metal forming industry know and have known for at least 90 years that it is essential that a means be provided to protect the workers from the hazards of in- running pinch points;" that safety regulations adopted by statute require that employers implement procedures and train newly assigned employees regarding their hazards and procedures; that the R-1062's rollers have to be cleaned periodically to avoid contamination of the steel; that defendant's workers typically clean the rollers by hand-wiping them with a cloth; that in order to clean the rollers' entire circumference, the rollers must be turned; and that given the physical setup of the R-1062 the "employee is required to clean the rollers from the front side of the rollers, within inches of the in-running pinch point, thereby exposing the workers to the well-known hazard presented by the rollers." Plain
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