Claim of Patane v. E. B. Carley & Co.

This is an appeal by employer and its insurance carrier from a decision of the Workmen’s Compensation Board awarding benefits on account of the death of claimant’s husband, Joseph Patane.

In the regular course of their employment deceased and a coworker were removing planks from a scaffold, each standing on a stepladder. The last plank removed was thirteen feet long and one and one-quarter inches thick, nailed to four-inch by four-inch uprights. In the work decedent reached up, cranked for two or three minutes with an iron pinch bar to loosen the plank, assisted by his coworker, preparatory to…