## Facts

- Michael York, a USX millwright, worked at a steel facility using a basic-oxygen furnace (“Evelyn vessel”) where argon gas was injected into molten steel through nozzles.
- Union Carbide supplied argon in bulk; USX designed, installed, maintained, and operated the argon piping system and its controls, not Union Carbide.
- When the vessel was not producing steel, an automatic control diverted argon from the main line to a bypass line intended to keep nozzles clear.
- During a shutdown to reline the vessel’s interior, the argon lines were disconnected for repairs and then reconnected two days before repairs were completed, allowing argon to flow into the vessel without detection.
- A USX technician tested oxygen levels but did so at a height that failed to detect oxygen deficiency near the vessel floor.
- York and a co-worker later entered the vessel bottom and died from asphyxiation caused by argon displacing oxygen in the lower area.
- York’s estate sued Union Carbide under negligence and strict products-liability theories, alleging failure to warn of argon’s hazards.
- The trial court granted summary judgment to Union Carbide, and the estate appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a bulk supplier of argon owed and breached a duty to warn the decedent directly, or could satisfy any duty by adequately warning the decedent’s employer.
2. Whether OSHA preempted the estate’s state-law products-liability claim.

## Decision

- The court affirmed summary judgment for Union Carbide.
- Union Carbide discharged any duty to warn by providing adequate warnings to USX, a sophisticated industrial user, and could reasonably rely on USX to convey warnings and implement safety measures for employees.
- The duty-to-warn doctrine described as “nondelegable” in latent defect cases did not apply because the harm did not stem from a latent defect in argon; the risk (oxygen displacement/asphyxiation) was inherent and the accident arose from USX’s system operation and testing failures.
- OSHA did not preempt the claim; OSHA’s savings clause preserved state tort remedies.
- Despite no preemption, the claim failed because the undisputed facts showed no breach of duty by Union Carbide.

## Legal Principles

- A bulk supplier of an inherently dangerous but nondefective industrial product may satisfy its duty to warn by giving adequate warnings to a sophisticated purchaser/employer that is better positioned to communicate warnings and control workplace safety.
- A manufacturer’s “nondelegable” duty to warn associated with latent design or manufacturing defects in a product does not automatically extend to hazards arising from the purchaser’s design, control, or operation of a complex industrial system using a nondefective product.
- OSHA generally does not preempt state tort claims against manufacturers or suppliers; the statute’s savings clause preserves common-law rights, duties, and liabilities.

## Conclusion

The court held that Union Carbide, as a bulk argon supplier, was not required to warn USX employees individually where it adequately warned USX and could rely on USX’s sophistication and control over the worksite, and it further held that OSHA did not preempt the state products-liability claim; summary judgment for Union Carbide was affirmed because no duty-to-warn breach was shown.


York v. Union Carbide Corp., 586 N.E.2d 861 (Ind. Ct. App. 1992)