William Aveyard, 49, was operating a hand-fed press when it is believed he climbed onto a moveable platen to remove waste from a misfeed. The platen activated and Aveyard was crushed to death on 8 May, 2008.

HSE claims that Bezier failed to act on knowledge of a similar incident at London-based Terry Smith Group 13 months prior to Aveyard’s death. In both circumstances, the hand-fed platen machines were in 'dwell' mode during intervention by the workers.

Bezier allegedly failed to ensure that Aveyard was trained to use the machine, and provided no written safe system of work for machine operators regarding misfeeds and retrieval.

A need for a safer system of work was identified by Bezier in May 2007. The company had an external health and safety risk assessment completed in February 2008 but failed to act on the advice given, HSE reported.

The company pleaded guilty to breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 at Leeds Crown Court on May 15 and was ordered to pay £80,000 plus £38,501.83 in costs.

After the hearing, HSE Inspector Andy Dennison, who reviewed the case, said: "The sudden – and avoidable – death of Mr Aveyard was a devastating blow for his family. Bezier did not act on the knowledge they had of a previous, similar incident.

"Accessing the machine to retrieve misfeeds created a serious and foreseeable risk of death or serious injury. Bezier were fully aware of those risks before this incident and failed to implement the required controls."

Bezier has released the following statement: "The thoughts of everyone within Bezier continue to be with Bill’s family at this difficult time.

"Since this tragic event in 2008, the new management team within Bezier has totally overhauled all of our safety management systems.

"We will continue to work with all our colleagues to ensure that these high standards are maintained."