Factory worker Brett Dolby crushed to death by giant rollers

Brett Dolby died at Scapa Healthcare on Woodside Industrial Estate in Houghton Regis

A factory worker was crushed to death after being pulled into two giant rollers, an inquest has heard.

The left side of Brett Dolby's body became trapped in the machine at Scapa Healthcare in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, in April last year.

It was first thought the 44-year-old's screams were a Pink Floyd song being played on the radio, Ampthill Coroners' Court was told.

Mr Dolby had previously operated the machine for three years.

The inquest jury heard how he had been part of a team that carried out a risk assessment on the machine, which had seven emergency stop buttons.

The inquest was told Scapa Healthcare inherited the machine when it bought the factory

A supervisor described how he mistook Mr Dolby's screams for music being played on the radio at the factory on Woodside Industrial Estate.

When asked how Mr Dolby of Houghton Regis, had got into the machine on 10 April, Stephen Giblin, the company's environmental health and safety director, said there was "no reason for anyone to enter the machine".

"There have been no known incidents with it," he said.

"The only reason he entered the machine was if he dropped something.

"A reasonable possibility is that he reached in for something and became trapped.

"He was left arm dominant, maybe he reached in."

'Simple mechanical guard'

Mr Giblin said that no foreign objects were found in the machine afterwards.

He said the firm had inherited the machine, which lacked a safety guard, when it bought the factory in 2004, adding that no instructions about a guard had been left.

Speaking before the court, David Rudland, from the Health and Safety Executive, said: "It was an accident waiting to happen."

Any protection to the machine could have "taken the form of a simple mechanical guard or an optical beam that would stop the machine if the beam is broken", he said.

The machine has since been taken out of use at the factory.

The inquest continues.