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Chapter One: Nature of Safe-Place Law
The safe-place statute first became the law of this state by the enactment of Ch. 485, Laws of 1911 which became Wis. Stat. Sec. 2394-48, (1911), [10] and is now Wis. Stat. Sec. 101.11.
It originally applied only to employees and frequenters, and places of employment. Laws 1913, ch. 588, extended the statute to public buildings, owners of public buildings and owners of places of employment by adding the following provision:
Laws 1931, c. 161 added to the list of persons designated as employers [subsection (c)], "state, county, town, city, village, school district, sewer district, drainage district and other public or quasi-public corporations"; and to the list of persons designated as owners [subsection (i)], "school district, sewer district, drainage district and other public or quasi-public corporations." Laws 1941, c. 273 eliminated farm labor (despite the nonuse of mechanical power) from the purview of the safe-place law by amending subsection (a) of sec. 101.01(2) in the following manner -- words in brackets being deleted, those italicized added: The phrase 'place of employment' shall mean and include every place ... but shall not include any place where persons are employed in (a) private domestic service [or agricultural pursuits] which [do] does not involve the use of mechanical power or (b) farm, labor when the employer is the farmer operating the farm and the labor is such as is customarily performed as a part of farming, and including the transportation of farm products immediately and directly from the farm, and of materials, supplies or equipment directly to the farm for use thereon.Subsection (b), dealing with definition of "employment" was amended to conform with such elimination as follows: ...except in such private domestic service [or agricultural pursuits] as [do] does not involve the use of mechanical power and in farm labor as used in subsection (1).This elimination of farming was clarified by Laws 1955, c. 425 which repealed all of category (b) in the 1941 amendment, and added instead: ... (b) Farming. The term 'farming' includes those activities specified in s. 102.04(4), and also includes the transportation of farm products, supplies or equipment directly to the farm by the operator of said farm or his employes for use thereon, if such activities are directly or indirectly for the purpose of producing commodities for market, or as an accessory to such production.Laws 1957, c. 342 added to the definition of "public building" at subsection (h) the words, "including exterior parts of such building, such as a porch, exterior platform or steps providing means of ingress or egress." [14] Laws 1961, c. 387, s. 1, changed "sec. 102.04(4)" referred to in 1955 amendment to "sec. 102.04(3)" to conform to a renumbering of the statutes.
Amendment to sec. 101.11(2), Stats. occurred under Laws 1913, c. 588, as follows:
Conversion Table Wis. 2d to N.W. 2d or N.W. 10. By revision bill Laws 1911, c. 664, s. 105. 11. Barlow, J. in Delaney v. Supreme investment Co., 251 Wis. 374, 378 (1947), states: "Ch. 485, Laws of 1911, created the industrial commission to administer this chapter, and an examination of the history of c. 101, Stats., shows that the amendments above referred to, and other amendments not material here, were sponsored by the industrial commission. It appears from the material available that there was doubt whether the safe-place statute applied only to equipment used by an employee or whether it also applied to the building in which he was employed. It had been argued in court that it applied to the equipment used by the employee, and not the building. The amendment to sec. 2394-48, Stats. 1911, by ch. 588, Laws of 1913, to include public buildings was for the purpose of clarifying this question. See 'The Industrial Commission of Wisconsin' by A. J. Altmeyer." 12. Barlow, J. in Delaney v. Supreme Investment Co., 251 Wis. 374, 379 (1947), states: "It also appears that prior to 1913 a series of fires had occurred in public buildings as defined by sec. 2394-41 (12) [now sec. 101.01 (2)(h)], Stats., in the states of Ohio, New York, New Jersey, and other states, resulting in the death of a large number of persons, which caused great public alarm. See 'Report of Allied Functions, Industrial Commission of Wisconsin' issued August 31, 1914. This prompted the addition of the words 'or the public, or tenants, and such reasonable means of notification, egress and escape in case of fire, as the nature of the employment, place employment, or public building' will reasonably permit. From the material available it is evident the intention was to protect the people within the building." 13. Barlow, J. in Delaney v. Supreme investment Co., 251 Wis. 374 (1947), states: "Then the amendment by ch. 133, Laws of 1917, in order to further protect against fires, the word 'firemen' was added to the section, and realizing that in case of fire adjoining buildings were in danger and every effort should be made to protect adjoining buildings with fireproof construction, the following words were added: 'and such freedom from danger to adjacent buildings or other property as the nature of employment, place of employment, or public building will reasonably permit'. 14. The Wisconsin Supreme Court in Hintz Zion Evang. U. B. Church, 13 Wis. 2d 439, 445 (1961), described this amendment as follows: "The legislature, in 1957, amended sec. 101.01 (12), Stats., so as to declare that exterior porches, approaches, and steps to public building are parts of the public building. Thereby such appurtenances are now expressly subject to the safe-place statute." [Italics supplied]
15. Query: significance of omitting phrase "except for the purpose of s. 101.11". or similar qualification, from this amendment when identical amendment to place-of-employment definition added such phrase.
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