Employer Can't Escape Liability Absent Mandate for Dust Masks, Court Rules

PHOENIX -- A state appeals court has affirmed an award entered in favor of a former worker at a rock crushing facility who for years failed to follow an unwritten requirement to wear a protective breathing device while working around dust. Cemex v. The Industrial Commission of Arizona, No. 1 CA-IC 09-0043 (Ariz. Ct. App.).

The Arizona Court of Appeals held in its March 4 decision that in order to protect itself from liability, Gilbert H. Holguin's employer was required to adopt and convey to employees a requirement regarding the use of masks outside of areas where dust exposure was …