TEXTILE worker Gary Lee was killed instantly in a machine at a Holmfirth mill, a court was told.

And now his employees, Westwood Yarns, have been fined £60,000 for the safety breaches which led to his death.

The wool firm will also have to pay £20,000 costs after the tragedy involving the long-standing and valued textile worker.

He was crushed to death as he tried to clean a baling machine at the firm’s Washpit Mills.

Mr Lee, 40, of Dunford Road, Holmfirth, suffered fatal injuries, including a broken spine, when the swivel box baler restarted as he cleaned it in January, 2008.

Although Mr Lee had worked for the Holmfirth-based firm for over 20 years he was not properly trained to clean the baling machine.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday that the company’s own safety rules indicated that the power supply to the machine should be isolated and padlocked in the off position during cleaning, but that procedure was not being followed.

Prosecutor Jason Pitter said: “Although that was stated in the literature the defendant had, the practice was deliberately discontinued by the defendant because operatives would lock machinery in the off position and leave the premises with the key”.

Mr Pitter said a specialist investigator concluded that there was no consistent practice for safe cleaning of the machine.

Mr Lee had been using an extendable air hose to clean out the machine and the court heard that it was a mystery as to why he had put his body so far into the chamber, activating the sensor which then re-started it.

The court heard that the company had co-operated fully with the Health and Safety Executive Investigation and had now reverted back to the padlock system.

Barrister Malcolm Sheehan, for the company, said the company also accepted that the worker who explained the cleaning process to Mr Lee misunderstood the procedure himself.