A FACTORY worker was crushed to death after vital safety equipment was switched off on a stone cutting machine, a Hampshire inquest heard.

David Bail, 22, suffered massive head injuries when he was caught by the machine head and crushed against a pillar at the factory in Totton on May 13, 2003.

Mr Bail, a single man from Romsey in Hants, had worked for the company, Change of Style, for seven months, Southampton Coroners Court heard.

Detective Sergeant Steve Edbury, of Hampshire Police, who led the investigation, said the automated machine, which cut stone for fireplaces and kitchen worktops, had light sensors around it that immediately stopped the machine when someone broke the continuous beam.

It also had hinged guards that, if lowered when the machine was working, would break a circuit and stop it.

But Mr Edbury said these safety devices had been bypassed to make the machine more efficient because if it was stopped it had to start the programme again costing time and money.

Mr Bail died when he went towards the stonecutter to look at a problem. If the light sensors had been working the machine would have stopped immediately.

A jury of five women and four men accepted directions from coroner Keith Wiseman to rule that Mr Bail was unlawfully killed.

Managing director of the firm, Michael Shaw, of Bridgenorth Road, Wolverhampton, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence and had been sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years, the jury heard.

He had also been fined £40,000 for health and safety offences, the company was also fined £30,000 for health and safety offences.

Gavin Shaw, of The Crescent, Ashurst, Mr Shaw's son and fellow director, who took over the firm while his father expanded the business in the West Midlands, was fined £1,500 for a health and safety charge.

Mr Edbury said two other employees were on duty at the time, Colin Hawkins and Darren McCall.

''They heard a noise,'' said Mr Edbury.

''That's why we are suggesting it's possible a tool fell out. He (Mr Bail) has gone to investigate. The next thing they find him as the head came along against that pillar and he was crushed.'' Mr Edbury said Mr Shaw told an employee the light sensors were ''a good idea, but we will not be using them''.

''He (the employee) knew Mr Shaw liked to maximise production and did not like it to be interrupted by workers breaking the beam,'' added Mr Edbury.

''It was common knowledge that the photo-electric beam had been deliberately defeated.'' Mr Wiseman said: ''It's a case so fundamental if one wasn't careful one would be running a factory back to Victorian times.

''Sadly, sometimes because of a wish to retain employment or whatever the combination of factors, that even where there are a significant number of people involved the whistle is not necessarily blown on the process itself.'' Mr Wiseman told Mr Edbury: ''You have painted a really quite horrific picture of the way the factory was operating and the risks, indeed, that individuals were taking in relation to their own safety, let alone any question of guiding the company."

A post mortem showed Mr Bail suffered severe crushing head injuries, including extensive skull fractures and traumatic brain injury. He died at Southampton General Hospital.