An employer cannot avoid liability for breach of its non-delegable duty of care by pointing to an employee's awareness of risk where the employer has provided defective equipment. The availability of alternative safe equipment elsewhere on the premises does not negate the breach but is relevant only to contributory negligence. The employer must have a system in place to check that equipment is in proper condition, and the absence of such a system constitutes a breach even where the employer had no direct knowledge of the defect.
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