The case arises from a ship-maintenance contract, but its principles apply equally “on land.”
Williams Savaria lost his life onboard the U.S.N.S Red Cloud when he fell into the ship’s 30-foot deep anchor chain locker. Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp. was contracted to perform maintenance on the ship and retained 5 Seasons LSB Corporation as a subcontractor. Savaria was employed by 5 Seasons. His estate’s lawsuit against Bayonne Dry Dock was dismissed because, as the appellate court affirmed, Bayonne was under no contractual duty to ensure that 5 Seasons employed proper safety protocols in performing its sub-contractor work on the Red Cloud.
Bayonne Dry Dock, a general contractor, had hired 5 Seasons on four previous occasions to perform similar work, all with good results. 5 Seasons was engaged to paint the inside of the anchor chain locker on the Red Cloud and was contractually required to observe all OSHA and state safety regulations. Prior to the painting, Bayonne made sure through atmospheric testing that entry to the anchor chain locker was “safe and permitted.” A notice to that effect was posted. The 5 Seasons workers built a scaffold to enable entry into the locker.
The 5 Seasons supervisor, who speaks Korean, needed to delay entry to the locker until he could fetch “fall protection.” Using hand signals, he instructed the workers to rest until he returned with that safety equipment. Savaria’s first language was Spanish although he spoke some English. A co-worker ignored this warning and descended into the locker before the supervisor returned. Savaria followed, using a rope attached to a pipe to assist him. During his descent, he was heard to exclaim, either in Spanish or English, that he could not “hold on any longer.” He fell 30 feet to the bottom and was declared deceased at the scene.
The court examined possible exceptions to the rule of non-liability, surveying past legal precedent. It found that Bayonne Dry Dock did not control the means and manner of 5 Seasons’ work. It hired a reputable subcontractor of known good reputation. 5 Seasons was contractually obligated to provide its workers’ safety equipment. Bayonne had no duty to ensure that 5 Seasons provided the safety procedures required of it. Nor was Bayonne required to determine whether language barriers precluded the following of instructions. Those duties all lay with 5 Seasons.
Facts of individual cases will be important, but the legal principles apply to all work settings. If no exception applies, the New Jersey courts will not impose a duty of care upon the general contractor to ensure that its subcontractors’ employees “safely perform their work.” The case is Estate of Savaria v. Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corp., in a per curiam opinion of the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey rendered on August 13, 2024.
Law Offices of John C. Lane 