Did Foreman's Advice That Electrical Worker Didn't Need Gloves Constitute 'Removal of Equipment Safety Guard'?

Under State Law That Allows Injured Worker To Sue for 'Intentional Workplace Tort'

Larry Hewitt v. The L.E. Myers Co. et al., Case no. 2011-2013

Eighth District Court of Appeals (Cuyahoga County)

ISSUE: When a work crew foreman tells an apprentice electrical lineman that he won't need rubber gloves to perform an assigned task, and the apprentice subsequently suffers injuries that could have been prevented by the use of rubber gloves, do those facts invoke a provision of state law that allows an injured worker to sue his or her employer for an "intentional tort" if the employer "deliberately removed an equipment safety guard?"