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Robinson v. Icarus Industrial Constructing8/15/2001
CHARACTER OF PROCEEDINGS: Civil Appeal from Common Pleas Court.
JUDGMENT: Judgment affirmed.
This appeal arises from a decision by the Common Pleas Court of Defiance County to enter summary judgment against Plaintiff-Appellant, Mark A. Robinson, Administrator of the Estate of Ronald Ours. Finding no merit to the arguments advanced on appeal, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.
In May of 1994, the Ohio Department of Transportation ("ODOT") awarded Appellee, Icarus Industrial Constructing and Painting Company ("Icarus"), a contract to paint five bridges within several counties of the state. After the four largest bridges were completed, work began on the final bridge located in Defiance County, Ohio on State Route 18. The necessary work included surface preparation through abrasive blasting, followed by several coats of paint. Each bridge utilized the same techniques, and the first four were completed without incident.
Before work began on the final bridge, Icarus's representatives met with ODOT officials to address safety issues and the proper equipment necessary to complete the work. After inspection, Icarus's owner, Stelios Tsahas, and the worksite foreman decided to use painter's picks scaffolding to enable the workman easier access to the bridge. The painter's picks were twenty-eight inches wide and were suspended from horizontal parallel cables fastened to the bridge, which allowed for lateral movement. Because the workers would be thirty feet above the ground, safety harnesses and lanyards were provided as protection against falls. The lanyards were to be tied off to a safety line that was connected to the bridge. Additionally, for environmental protection, the painter's picks were surrounded by tarpaulins, which concealed the workers from any ground crew.
Ronald Ours had been working for Icarus twelve years prior to beginning work on this project. Throughout that time, Icarus maintained a safety awareness and training program of which all employees were required to participate. Mandatory training sessions were held each Monday, and shorter "toolbox" safety meetings were held on a daily basis. These included training specifically on the use of fall prevention equipment. By implementing such a program and by utilizing safety harnesses and lanyards, no injuries had occurred due to falls throughout the fifteen years of Icarus's operation before the day that gave rise to this action.
Ronald Ours was an experienced commercial painter and was a member of the Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades, Local 460. Not only was he well trained in using the fall protection issued to him but he also signed Icarus's mission statement, which recognized the safety procedures and his obligation to follow them. Notably, Ours apparently understood this commitment because he was consistently observed wearing the provided safety harness and lanyard.
Despite this understanding, on September 12, 1994, Ours was not wearing his issued safety equipment, and he fell from the scaffolding thirty feet to his death. Following his death, the administrator of his estate, Mark Robinson ("Appellant"), brought this action claiming that Icarus caused the wrongful death of Ronald Ours through an intentional workplace tort. Thus, Appellant asserts that the intentional acts and dangerous conditions brought about by Icarus created a substantial certainty of harm to Mr. Ours.
In a judgment entry dated December 15, 2000, the trial court granted Icarus's motion for summary judgment. Upon entering this judgment, Appellant filed his appeal, asserting, in two separate assignments of error, that the trial court erred in granting summar
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