The company was also ordered to pay £80,000 costs following an HSE investigation into the incident, which occurred on 6 October 2008.

Ian Ebbs, 43, was working the night shift at the plant, which has been known as Wyndeham Peterborough since Walstead acquired St Ives Web in 2011, when the incident occurred.

An automated process preparing the presses for a new print run came to a halt. The reason for this was identified as a stuck locking pin on the paddle wheel assembly, which prevented it moving downwards.

Ebbs climbed into the machinery to get at two air lines which controlled the locking pin and swapped them over, freeing the paddle wheel, which then came down on him, trapping him between it and fixed parts of the printing press. He died at the scene.

Wyndeham Peterborough admitted breaching Section 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974. However, as part of the web division sale to Wyndeham, it was agreed that St Ives would retain all potential liabilities related to the incident.

HSE inspector Alison Ashworth said: "There had been two incidents in the months before Ian Ebbs' death when machinery moved unexpectedly in the same enclosure, but the company failed to have effective procedures in place for capturing this information and therefore failed to act upon it.

"If they had, it is entirely possible that this fault could have been safely resolved, rather than leading to a man needlessly losing his life. This printing company relied too much on the skills and expertise of experienced staff like Ian Ebbs to sort out problems, rather than having proper systems in place to identify risks and control them.

"HSE is very clear about the responsibilities of employers and will not hesitate to prosecute companies who fail to take their health and safety obligations seriously."