Deco-Pak: Garden supply firm worker 'crushed by robot arm'

An engineer was crushed to death by a robotic arm just weeks after starting a job at a West Yorkshire garden supplies firm, a court heard.

Andrew Tibbott had been one of the last employees working at Deco-Pak in Hipperholme on 14 April 2017 when he was fatally injured by the machine.

Bradford Crown Court heard the 48-year-old was only discovered when concerned family members went to the site on Halifax Road later that evening.

Deco-Pak denies corporate manslaughter.

The firm has admitted breaching its general duty to employees under health and safety regulations.

Allan Compton QC, prosecuting, said Mr Tibbott was found by his son, but despite paramedics arriving on scene he died from crush injuries to his chest.

Mr Tibbott had entered the "cell" around the robotic arm to clean a sensor, the court heard, with the prosecution claiming his death had been "wholly avoidable".

Mr Compton alleged that "within days" of the 2015 installation of the automated machinery, used for bagging aggregates, the company had caused essential safety features to be bypassed or disabled.

The jury heard the robotic arm could move at seven metres (23ft) per second.

They were told another worker had left the firm due to "lethal" working conditions.

Managing director Michael Hall, 64, of Hullen Edge Lane, Elland, admitted the health and safety breach, but denies a charge of manslaughter by gross negligence.

Another director, Rodney Slater, 62, of Wellbank View, Rochdale, denies the same manslaughter allegation and the health and safety breach.

The trial is expected to last about six weeks.

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