Safety Appliance Act

“ No person at work shall wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse any appliance, protective clothing, convenience, equipment or other means or thing provided (whether for his use alone or for use by him in common with others) pursuant to any requirement under this Act for securing the safety, health or welfare of persons (including himself) at work.
(3) Any person at work who, without reasonable cause, wilfully or recklessly does any act which endangers the safety or health of himself or others shall be guilty of an offence. ”

“ The safety-appliance law, as amended by the Act of March 2, 1903, has proved beneficial to railway employees, and in order that its provisions may be properly carried out, the force of inspectors provided for by appropriation should be largely increased. ”

“ No issues arise except the one upon procedure. It is clear that an employee injured in intrastate transportation by defective equipment of an interstate railroad comes under the Safety Appliance Acts. [4] Nor is there any longer a question as to the power of the state to provide whatsoever remedy it may choose for breaches of the Safety Appliance Acts. [5] The federal statutes create the right; the remedy is within the state's discretion. In this case we are to find what remedy the State of Pennsylvania has provided. ”

“ As we said in that case: 'At best, appliances standardized in Commission regulations represent the minimum of safety equipment, and there is no prohibition of additional safety appliances.' 350 U.S., at 324, 76 S.Ct., at 391. ”

“ Where a person designs, manufactures or supplies any machinery, equipment or hazardous substance for use at work and does so for or to another on the basis of a written undertaking by that other to take specified steps sufficient to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the machinery, equipment or hazardous substance will be safe and without risk to health when properly used, the undertaking shall have the effect of relieving the first-mentioned person from the duty imposed by subsection (1) (b) to such extent as is reasonable having regard to the terms of the undertaking. ”

“ This section shall apply if the Commissioner is satisfied that—
(a) any workplace is in such condition, or is so located, or any part of the machinery, equipment, plant or article in the workplace is so used, that any process or work carried on in the workplace cannot be carried on with due regard to the safety, health and welfare of persons at work; (b) any person has contravened any duty imposed by this Act ”

“ Provided, That the issuance of information on air quality control techniques shall not be construed as requiring the purchase of certain pollution control devices by the public.
SECTION 12. Ambient Air Quality Values and Standards. – TheDepartment, in coordination with other concerned agencies, shall review and/or revise and publish annually a list of hazardous air pollutants with corresponding ambient guideline values and/or standard necessary to protect public health and safety, and general welfare. ”

“ Regulation 10 imposes a duty on certain enforcement authorities to enforce the Regulations. It requires all enforcement authorities to act in a proportionate manner, to take account of the precautionary principle and to encourage voluntary compliance with the Regulations except in cases of serious risk. ”

“ UNREASONABLE RISK OF INJURY.—Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, the Commission may, pursuant to sections 7 and 9 of this Act, amend the product safety standard for all-terrain vehicles to include any additional provision that the Commission determines is reasonably necessary to reduce an unreasonable risk of injury associated with the performance of all-terrain vehicles. ”

“ We held in Shields that if a safety appliance is provided by the railroad or the makers of the car and used by the railroad as an appliance necessary for the use of the car, it must be safe.
One man is dead and another is crippled for life because the dome lid on the tank car furnished by the respondents was defective. The dome lid was provided by the respondents as a safety appliance ”

“ In particular, the majority found that DOT intended to "deliberately provid [e] the manufacturer [s] with a range of choices among different passive restraint devices" and to "bring about a mix of different devices introduced gradually over time," based on comments that DOT made when prom ulgating its regulation, rather than the Safety Act's text. ”

“ There is general agreement that the second safety finding referred to, 'that the final design provides reasonable assurance that the health and safety of the public will not be endangered,' comports with the requirements of § 182 concerning the issuance of a license to operate. ”

“ To manufacture, operate, transport, store or use dangerous articles, or to dispose of abandoned dangerous articles, production and operation entities shall abide by relevant laws and regulations, as well as the national standards or industry standards, establish a specific safety management system, adopt reliable safety measures, and subject themselves to the supervision and control by competent departments in accordance with the law. ”

“ ENFORCEMENT.— Violation of paragraph (1) shall be considered to be a violation of section 19 (a) (1) of the Consumer Product Safety Act (15 U.S.C. 2068 (a) (1) ) and may also be enforced under section 17 of that Act (15 U.S.C. 2066) . ”

“ Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States and the lower Federal courts in cases brought before them for adjudication the safety appliance law has been materially strengthened, and the Government has been enabled to secure its effective enforcement in almost all cases, with the result that the condition of railroad equipment throughout the country is much improved and railroad employes perform their duties under safer conditions than heretofore. ”

“ For the purposes of this Act—
(a) mechanical power shall not be treated as being used in a workplace by reason only that mechanical power is used for the purpose of heating, ventilating, cooling, air-conditioning or lighting the workplace or any part thereof; and (b) any reference to the health of a person shall, where that person is pregnant, include a reference to the health of any unborn child which that person is carrying. ”

“ The Federal Emergency Management Agency and its United States Fire Administration are working with all levels of government, the private sector, service organizations, and volunteer groups to launch a national campaign to assure that every home in the United States has a properly installed and maintained smoke detector. The Operation Life Safety program, a consortium of the private sector, the International Association of Fire Chiefs, and the United States Fire Administration, also is making valuable contributions by encouraging the installation of residential sprinkler systems. ”

“ Past and recent tragedies have reminded us, however, that the handling and storage of chemicals are not without risk. The Federal Government has developed and implemented numerous programs aimed at reducing the safety risks and security risks associated with hazardous chemicals. However, additional measures can be taken by executive departments and agencies (agencies) with regulatory authority to further improve chemical facility safety and security in coordination with owners and operators. ”

“ The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the actual situation of their respective regions, formulate and promulgate specific catalogs to eliminate the techniques or equipment that present threat to work safety other than those prescribed in the preceding paragraph.
No production and operation entity may use techniques and equipment threatening work safety which ought to be eliminated. ”

“ Most accidents and work illnesses can be prevented, often by simple and inexpensive or no-cost measures. Protective equipment, used in many industries to help assure worker safety and health, proves equally useful on farms and ranches if always used when jobs or working conditions call for it. Complex preventive measures are rarely required, and safety and health information is available from many local sources. ”

“ Regulation 7 requires producers to inform customers about the risks of products and to monitor the risks their products pose. Regulation 8 requires distributors to act with due care so as not to supply unsafe products and to co-operate in monitoring the safety of products. Regulation 9 requires producers and distributors to notify an enforcement authority if a product placed on the market poses risks that are incompatible with the general product safety requirement. This does not apply to antiques or products supplied for repair or reconditioning. ”

“ Such program shall be developed jointly by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health and shall include, but not be limited to, measures for identifying and assessing hazards to which persons engaged in removal, remedy, or other response to hazardous substances may be exposed, methods to protect workers from such hazards, and necessary regulatory and enforcement measures to assure adequate protection of such employees. ”

“ Thus the Boiler Inspection Act vests in the Interstate Commerce Commission rule-making power adequate to protect employees against disease as well as against accident; and the power to make rules for employee health has been exercised. ”

“ Respiratory protection is used to reduce worker exposures to acceptable levels in the absence of effective engineering controls, during the installation or maintenance of engineering controls, for short-duration tasks that make engineering controls impractical, and during emergencies. The decision to use respiratory protection should be based upon professional judgment, hazard assessment, and risk management practices to keep worker inhalation exposures below an internal control or an exposure limit. ”

“ But in a brief filed in this cause it contends that the Pennsylvania statute is an infringement of the Commission's authority to regulate safety of equipment. In ordinary speech the load of a vehicle is not spoken of as a part of its equipment. In the Motor Carrier Safety Regulations, promulgated by the Commission, safety of equipment is treated as synonymous with or the equivalent of parts and accessories of motor cars affecting safety. ”

“ Domestic workshops are not controlled unless the industry is classed as dangerous or unhealthy; introduction of motor power brings them under inspection. General sanitation in industrial establishments is provided for in a law of 1893, amended in 1903, and is supplemented by administrative regulations for special risks due to poisons, dust, explosive substances, gases, fumes, &c. ”

“ It is essential to the Commission's safety program whenever and wherever hazardous activities are engaged in that affect safety of operation of an interstate motor carrier, that those who engage in them shall be qualified to do so and that maximum hours of service affecting such safety of operation shall be established and enforced. ”

“ Provisions of factory acts relating to the sanitary condition of factories and workshops and the safety of employés have been enacted in nearly all the manufacturing states of the Union. They prohibit overcrowding, and require proper ventilation, sufficient light and heat, the lime-washing or painting of walls and ceilings, the provision of exhaust fans and blowers in places where dust or dangerous fumes are generated, guards on machinery, mechanical belts and gearing shifters, guards on elevators and hoistways, hand-rails on stairs, fire-escapes, &c. ”

“ As this service is charged for at a rate which makes it self-sustaining, this means something more than interest—it means enthusiasm on the part of employers in our accident prevention campaign.
The work of the safety engineers consists of inspection of factories and making special reports for improving existing conditions which manufacturers have almost uniformly acted upon; advice regarding safety devices, shop safety organization and other means of preventing work accidents; practical instructions to superintendents, foremen, engineers and workmen in regard to safety devices ”

“ Nor have manufacturers provided factual support for their statements that authorized repair persons are more careful or that individuals or independent repair shops fail to take appropriate safety precautions, or that independent repair workers who enter homes pose more of a safety risk to consumers than authorized repair workers. ”

“ It comprehensively carries out education on safe production to enhance the sense of responsibility for safety, continues to consolidate electric power safety and petroleum and gas production safety, intensifies supervision and management measures, and practices a working system in which production safety is supervised by the state and administered by local governments while enterprises take the responsibility. It further implements the safe production responsibility system, and enforces rigorous safe production laws and regulations and a related accountability system. ”