VSSR: A Fence Makes a Factory
State, ex rel. Petrie v. Atlas Iron Processors, Inc. (4/28/99), 85 Ohio St.3d 372.
A worker was injured while working in a scrap yard. He worked inside a fenced-in enclosure.
The worker filed for a VSSR award. The Industrial Commission denied the award because he filed the VSSR claim under a safety code which applied to “factories and workshops.” The Commission found that the injury had not happened in a factory or workshop, because it happened outside.
The Supreme Court found that the VSSR section for “factories and workshops” applied because:
The fence, in this case, indeed set forth the boundaries of work activity. It also served to keep unauthorized nonemployees out, and, in so doing, established its confines as a place accessible only to employees for the purpose of carrying out the company’s business.