§ 4. Assumption of risks; contributory negligence, when a question of
fact. An employee by entering upon or continuing in the service of the
employer shall be presumed to have assented to the necessary risks of
the occupation or employment and no others. The necessary risks of the
occupation or employment shall, in all cases arising after the first day
of September, nineteen hundred and ten, be considered as including those
risks, and those only, inherent in the nature of the business which
remain after the employer has exercised due care in providing for the
safety of his employees, and has complied with the laws affecting or
regulating such business or occupation for the greater safety of such
employees. In an action brought to recover damages for personal injuries
or for death resulting therefrom received after the first day of
September, nineteen hundred and ten, owing to any cause, including open
and visible defects, for which the employer would be liable but for the
hitherto available defense of assumption of risks by the employee, the
fact that the employee continued in the service of the employer in the
same place and course of employment after the discovery by such
employee, or after he had been informed of the danger of personal injury
therefrom, shall not be, as matter of fact or as matter of law, an
assumption of the risk of injury therefrom, but an employee, or his
legal representative, shall not be entitled under this article to any
right of compensation or remedy against the employer in any case where
such employee knew of the defect or negligence which caused the injury
and failed, within a reasonable time, to give, or cause to be given,
information thereof to the employer, or to some person superior to
himself in the service of the employer, or who had intrusted to him some
superintendence, unless it shall appear on the trial that such defect or
negligence was known to such employer, or superior person, prior to such
injuries to the employee; or unless such defect could have been
discovered by such employer by reasonable and proper care, tests or
inspection.