Blevins v. Beckley Magnetite, Inc

Blevins v. Beckley Magnetite, Inc., 185 W.Va. 633, 408 S.E.2d 385 (1991), involved an employee who was severely injured while cleaning up ore spillage around a self-cleaning conveyor tail pulley. The employee was shoveling material onto the conveyor belt when his coveralls got caught, and he was pulled into the machine. The employee contended that the unsafe working condition was "working in and around an unguarded tail pulley and corresponding pinch points on an operating conveyor belt assembly." Blevins, 185 W.Va. at 639, 408 S.E.2d at 391. However, the Court determined that "a specific unsafe working condition . . . only existed when the appellant went into the guarded area, without first turning off the equipment, to clean up the oil spillage, failing to comply with safety procedures." Id.