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Ford v. Carylon Corporation11/10/2005
Terry Ford appeals from a summary judgment in favor of Carylon Corporation, Inc. ("Carylon"), Video Industrial Services, Inc. ("Video"), and Chris Eady (collectively "the defendants"). We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand.
Facts and Procedural History
Video, a subsidiary of Carylon, provides industrial-scale environmental cleanup and maintenance services. Ford began his employment with Video on March 10, 2001.
On March 23, Ford and his supervisor, Eady, were assigned to clean a water-treatment tank located at the waterworks system of the Water and Sewer Board of the City of Guntersville. The assigned cleanup work entailed the use of an industrial vacuum to remove from the bottom of the tank charcoal that had been used to filter water processed through the tank.
The vacuum used is known as an SV-119. It is manufactured and sold by Clean Earth Manufacturing and is the most powerful vacuum Video uses in performing its cleanup services. Regardless of the strength of the particular vacuum used on a job , however, Video has instituted mandatory safety rules regarding the use of all vacuums. Among these is a rule that all individuals performing jobs for which a vacuum is necessary must have in place on the vacuum hose an "in-line relief valve," a device colloquially referred to as a "safety T." In shape, the safety T resembles the capital letter "T," and is used to connect two sections of a vacuum hose, allowing the user quickly to relieve accumulated pressure within the hose. The two hoses coupled with the safety T constitute a straight line, connected by the horizontal line at the top of the letter "T." The vertical line in the letter "T" represents the part of the device that juts out from the hose connection at a right angle and contains a valve that can be tripped open by pulling on a rope attached to the valve to relieve vacuum pressure in the hose line.
On the morning of March 23, Eady and Ford arrived at the waterworks system and proceeded to a building that housed two water-treatment tanks. Eady prepared to clean the first tank by removing a six-inch flexible hose from the vacuum truck, connecting it to the vacuum, and lowering the hose into the tank. Eady did not install a safety T anywhere along the length of the hose. He began vacuuming the charcoal, eventually entering the tank in order to reach the bottom layers. When he finished vacuuming the entire tank, he emerged, and he and Ford drove the vacuum truck to a remote location where they deposited the charcoal refuse.
The two returned to the waterworks, at which point Eady instructed Ford to clean the second tank. Ford had observed the vacuuming process, but he had never before manned the vacuum hose. Ford undertook to perform the task in a manner similar to the manner he had seen Eady use. After he had vacuumed the tank for approximately 30 minutes, and while he was inside it, a large chunk of solid charcoal entered the vacuum hose. The chunk collided with a bend in the hose, and the impact caused the hose to jerk suddenly out of Ford's hands, in turn causing the hose to flail about as Ford attempted to recapture it. The hose came within inches of Ford's hand and, given its strong suction power, drew Ford's hand into the hose and drew itself up Ford's arm, stopping only at Ford's shoulder. The tremendous force of the vacuum caused Ford's shirt sleeve to rip from his shirt and caused a significant amount of blood to be drawn into Ford's arm and hand, thus decreasing blood flow elsewhere in his body, and eventually causing Ford to collapse; Ford, however, did not lose consciousness.
When the hose initially attached to Ford's arm, Ford began screaming for Eady
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