A COMPANY run by a soccer boss has been fined £60,000 after it was revealed equipment which crushed a teenager to death had a catalogue of safety problems.

Steven Donald was just 17 and in his very first job when he died following the horrific accident on a conveyor belt.

The company, EW Cartons, of Rishton, was also ordered to pay £10,000 costs after admitting failing to ensure the safety of employees.

Burnley Crown Court heard the machinery at the firm, headed by Accrington Stanley FC chairman and owner Eric Whalley, was in a "lamentable condition" with a number of safety features being been removed or deliberately over-ridden.

Steven of York Street, Clayton-le-Moors died from multiple organ failure and crush injuries in August, 1998.

The fine imposed by Judge Raymond Bennett is £3,000 more than the company's profits last year.

Brian Foster, a director of Waste Equipment Services Ltd, of Bamber Bridge, a company which went into voluntary liquidation a month after the accident, pleaded guilty to conniving to supplying the conveyor belt and baling machine which had faults preventing it from being safe at all times when used by a person at work.

Foster, now the sole owner of Waste Equipment Machines Ltd operating in a similar business from the same place, was fined £3,000 with £6,746 costs. He was given a month to persuade Judge Bennett that he did not have the means to pay.

Judge Bennett said EW Cartons had pleaded guilty to failing to ensure the safety of employers working in the vicinity of the machine and in particular Steven Donald.

He expressed his sympathy to Steven's relatives, now living in Scotland, adding: "This 17-year-old lad doing his first job in life has fallen victim to an accident which was waiting to happen."

He heard the belt was in holes when first supplied nearly two years before the accident and had deteriorated through use.

Andrew Long, prosecuting for the Health and Safety Executive and Hyndburn Council, said Steven must have gone on to the conveyor when it was still moving in order to remove a blockage of cardboard being taken up into a hopper for baling.

It took fire and ambulance rescuers 45 minutes to extricate him from the machine said Mr Long.

When he machine was installed by EW Cartons for £10,000 it was already old and in poor condition.

There were numerous holes in the belt which was not safe.

A number of inbuilt safety features had been dismantled or deliberately over-ridden.

At the time of the accident the conveyor belt and baling machine were examined and found to be in a lamentable condition, he added.

The original stop/start button had been replaced and was unlabelled.

Safety trip switches were missing and a safety key to ensure that the machinery was not moving when repairs were being carried out had been lost.

The relevant parts had been dismantled so that the key was no longer needed. Mr Long said there were innumerable other minor technical faults, unlabelled switches and live, unguarded technical gear.

There was no management safety system for the site, after the company moved from Blackburn to Rishton, and no risk assessment of that machine.

Michael Hayton, for EW Cartons, expressed the company's regret about the tragic accident which happened when the company was in a period of transition having moved premises.

They had already decided to replace the machine before the accident happened.

Had there not been delays with planning permission the new equipment would have been installed and the tragic accident would not have happened, he said.

Steven, a former pupil of Norden High School, Rishton, lived with his mother Janette.

She has since returned to Scotland where Steven was born and where other family members live.

The company refused to comment after the hearing.