Michael Hall, former director of Deco-Pak, has been jailed for five years after being convicted of gross negligence manslaughter.

The company has also been fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 in court costs after a worker was crushed to death by a robotic packing arm.

Forty-eight-year-old Andrew Tibbott died while working at Deco-Pak in Hipperholme, West Yorkshire, on 14 April 2017.

A Crown Court trial was told that the machine's safety features had been bypassed or disabled. Mr Tibbott, who had worked for the firm for less than six weeks, was crushed while attempting to clean a sensor on the machine.

According to the prosecution, senior Deco-Pak management were notified on numerous occasions about the bypassing of safety systems and the likely consequence of accidents and injury. It was accepted that Deco-Pak had employed the machine manufacturers to train Mr Tibbott and other employees at various times in those six weeks.

The machinery, used for bagging aggregates, had systems bypassed or disabled “within days” of it being installed in 2015 due to issues with the installation of certain parts of the machine, the court was told.

Deco-Pak Ltd was convicted of corporate manslaughter in January 2022 following a trial at Bradford Crown Court.

Former company director 64-year-old Michael Hall, who was running Deco-Pak at the time, was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter in April following a retrial.

Hall was sentenced to five years' imprisonment while Deco-Pak Ltd was fined £700,000 and ordered to pay £90,000 in court costs.

Company director Rodney Slater was acquitted of gross negligence manslaughter and of a health and safety breach.

Alex Johnson, specialist prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “Andrew Tibbott was killed by a powerful and dangerous piece of machinery in an accident that should never have happened.