Firm fined £60,000 for crush death in factory

Gary Lee, 40, was cleaning the machine at Westwood Yarns’ factory in Holmfirth when it re-activated, leaving him with multiple crush injuries.

The company was fined £60,000 and ordered to pay £20,625 in costs.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), which mounted the prosecution, said management safety failings at Westwood Yarns’ Washpit Mills factory in Holmfirth were responsible for the tragedy.

Bradford Crown Court heard on Tuesday that Mr Lee had received no proper training in how to clean the baling machine but had tackled the task on January 3, 2008, when asked to do the job. Minutes later a colleague heard shouts and rushed over to hit the emergency stop button. Mr Lee was later pronounced dead at the scene.

The HSE investigation suggested Mr Lee, of Dunford Road, Holmfirth, may have inadvertently obscured an electronic sensor, which re-activated the operation of the baling compressors as the machine had been left in automatic mode. It should instead have been shut down completely. The HSE found a lack of supervision and consistency in work processes at the factory.

A lack of equipment meant some procedures could not be carried out properly.

Westwood Yarns Ltd, of Worchester Road, Kidderminster, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to breaching the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974.