Wolters

Petitioner Henry J. Wolters is a painting contractor. Two experienced painters employed by him, Charles McGee and Walter Van Heukelem, were injured by the collapse of a scaffold. The employees applied to the In *139 ¿historial Accident Commission for an augmented award of compensation, charging serious and wilful misconduct of their employer. 1 The commission granted the awards and Wolters seeks review in this proceeding.

The accident occurred while McGee and Van Heukelem were painting the side of a house. On the morning of the accident the two employees met Wolters and Elden Edens, his foreman, at the house to get the job started. The house was two stories high with a gable above the second story. McGee and Van Heukelem were to start by painting one side of the house, which was a gable end. That side of the house rose to a peak, which had a maximum height of 31 feet. A concrete driveway ran alongside. The employees were provided with two 20-foot extension ladders and a scaffold plank, which was 14 inches wide and 18 feet long. A triangular-shaped metal device, called a ladder jack, hooked to each ladder and supported the scaffold plank at each end. This kind of “ladder jack…