---
title: O.C.G.A. § 34-7-20. Care by employer in selection of employees and in furnishing of safe machinery; employer’s duty to warn.
collection: code
id: 34-7-20
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 34-7-20 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/34-7-20
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/34-7-20.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/34-7-20/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t34-(v26)-2017-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=ba91129b_0#page=101
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
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heading_path: LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS / EMPLOYMENT GENERALLY; EMPLOYERS LIABILITY / EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY FOR INJURIES GENERALLY
---

# O.C.G.A. § 34-7-20. Care by employer in selection of employees and in furnishing of safe machinery; employer’s duty to warn.

The employer is bound to exercise ordinary care in the selection of employees and not to retain them after knowledge of incompetency; he shall use like care in furnishing machinery equal in kind to that in general use and reasonably safe for all persons who operate it with ordinary care and diligence. If there are latent defects in machinery or dangers incident to an employment, which defects or dangers the employer knows or ought to know but which are unknown to the employee, then the employer shall give the employee warning with respect thereto.

## History

Civil Code 1895, § 2611; Civil Code 1910, § 3130; Code 1933, § 66-301.

## Law Reviews

For article discussing origin and construction of Georgia provisions concerning master-servant relationship, see 14 Ga. L. Rev. 239 (1980). For survey article on labor and employment law for the period from June 1, 2002 to May 31, 2003, see 55 Mercer L. Rev. 303 (2003). For survey article on labor and employment law, see 59 Mercer L. Rev. 233 (2007). For survey article on labor and employment law, see 60 Mercer L. Rev. 217 (2008). For annual survey of labor and employment law, see 61 Mercer L. Rev. 213 (2009). For annual survey of law on labor and employment law, see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 181 (2010). For annual survey on labor and employment law, see 64 Mercer L. Rev. 173 (2012). For annual survey on labor and employment law, see 65 Mercer L. Rev. 157 (2013). For annual survey on labor and employment law, see 66 Mercer L. Rev. 121 (2014). For annual survey on labor and employment law, see 67 Mercer L. Rev. 91 (2015).

For comment criticizing Parry v. Davison-Paxon, 87 Ga. App. 51, 73 S.E.2d 59 (1952), see 4 Mercer L. Rev. 368 (1953).

## History of Code Section.

This Code section is derived from the decisions in Georgia R.R. & Banking Co. v. Nelms, 83 Ga. 70, 9 S.E. 1049 (1889); Davis v. Augusta Factory, 92 Ga. 712, 18 S.E. 974 (1893); May v. Smith, 92 Ga. 95, 18 S.E. 360 (1893).