did not believe him and he had to use force to get them out. The expert ordered that the inspection chamber and the sweep hole must be sealed before the boiler was lit and that the sweeps must not work by the boiler with the sweep hole open and the boiler lit. The boiler was lit while the sweeps were still working on sealing the sweep hole. The two sweeps were found dead in the boiler room. Their widows claimed damages from the defendant occupier, who, they alleged, had been negligent in lighting the boiler. The trial judge held that the defendants were in breach of their duty under s 2 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, but the sweeps were contributorily negligent. On appeal the decision of the trial judge was reversed. In finding for the occupier Lord Denning MR made the following comments, beginning at p 1123:

doi:10.4324/9781843140504-94

Chapter

did not believe him and he had to use force to get them out. The expert ordered that the inspection chamber and the sweep hole must be sealed before the boiler was lit and that the sweeps must not work by the boiler with the sweep hole open and the boiler lit. The boiler was lit while the sweeps were still working on sealing the sweep hole. The two sweeps were found dead in the boiler room. Their widows claimed damages from the defendant occupier, who, they alleged, had been negligent in lighting the boiler. The trial judge held that the defendants were in breach of their duty under s 2 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, but the sweeps were contributorily negligent. On appeal the decision of the trial judge was reversed. In finding for the occupier Lord Denning MR made the following comments, beginning at p 1123:

Chapter

did not believe him and he had to use force to get them out. The expert ordered that the inspection chamber and the sweep hole must be sealed before the boiler was lit and that the sweeps must not work by the boiler with the sweep hole open and the boiler lit. The boiler was lit while the sweeps were still working on sealing the sweep hole. The two sweeps were found dead in the boiler room. Their widows claimed damages from the defendant occupier, who, they alleged, had been negligent in lighting the boiler. The trial judge held that the defendants were in breach of their duty under s 2 of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957, but the sweeps were contributorily negligent. On appeal the decision of the trial judge was reversed. In finding for the occupier Lord Denning MR made the following comments, beginning at p 1123:

ABSTRACT

A possible justification for this decision is that on the particular facts the sweeps actually knew of the risk. Moreover, they were, apparently, selfemployed persons, so that it was within their power to avoid the risk by refraining from working when the air was contaminated by fumes. Such a justification for the case would make it easier to reconcile with more recent cases, such as Ogwo v Taylor (1988)11 which have taken the view that emergency service personnel, at least, can claim against an occupier whose negligence has created the emergency and thus led to their injury.