A FOREST businessman broke down in tears in the dock at Gloucester Crown Court as a jury heard the distressing 999 call made by one of his employees trying to save a man’s life at an industrial unit in Sling.

The emergency call handler told workers at the Capital Metals unit at the New Dunn Business Park to keep Martin Simmons, who had became trapped in a newly-installed tyre shredding machine, as comfortable as possible until the paramedics arrived.

But when Mr Simmons appeared to stop breathing the workers were told to cut him free and carry out emergency resuscitation.

The jury of nine women and three men heard the sound of disc cutters being used to free Mr Simmons and operations manager Gary King’s efforts to follow instructions to perform chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

The trial judge stepped in and temporarily halted proceedings as he could see that as well as the defendant, Kyle Gettings, breaking down in the dock, a number of the jury panel were also visibly upset by what they heard.

Mr Gettings, 35, of Marten Road, Chepstow, denies a charge that on March 6, 2019 he unlawfully killed Martin Simmons by gross negligence.

Mr Gettings has pleaded guilty to a charge that as sole director of Capital Metals Ltd between January 1, 2019 and February 21, 2019 he failed to discharge his duty in ensuring the health and safety of his employees while working with machinery during the process of shredding tyres.

Prosecutor Philip Stott told the jury that on February 20, 2019, Mr Simmons had been both loading tyres onto the conveyor belt at the beginning of the shredding process and overseeing the shredded tyres as it left the machine on the second conveyor belt.

“The machinery didn’t have any guard rail protection on the second conveyor belt. This is neglect as anybody could easily become trapped within its workings. There was no process to stop this from happening while the machinery was running,” said Mr Stott.

The jury were told that the day before the incident, a television production company for the ‘Scrap Kings’ series, had been filming the tyre shredding operation and were shown the video footage of what the employees did when the machinery got jammed.

The film showed the ill-fated machinery and the conveyor belt being used without guards.

It was alleged that the following day the employees did not turn off the machinery when freeing up the jammed conveyor belt, despite being trained to do so by Mr Gettings.

Jack Major, who was working with Mr Simmons at the time of the incident, said he remembered being told to make sure the equipment was switched off before carrying out any work to retrieve debris from the machinery.

Mr Major said: “I had to pick large shredded items off the floor all the time and place them on the conveyor belt myself, which didn’t have any safety guards on it. I did this because they would quickly become a trip hazard.

“The hopper would frequently jam up and the unit would be turned off to allow us to free up the jammed equipment. It is common sense not to put your hands anywhere near it while it was operational.

“It was not my responsibility to turn the machinery on or off. But at around 4pm Mr Simmons was working on the conveyor belt, without it being turned off, while I was undertaking another task with my back to him.

“I turned around when he shouted out loudly ‘Ouch’. He was kneeling down and was in an unnatural position with his shoulder being trapped and his right arm inside the machinery. Mr Simmons’ neck was sticking out from being under the machine.

“I immediately pressed the emergency stop button, which disables everything in the unit. I ran outside and shouted for somebody to dial 999.

“When other people took over the situation in the unit, I went to get some disc cutters to free Mr Simmons from the machinery, but I was told not to use it.’’

Mr King told the jury: “When I heard Mr Major shouting for somebody to ring 999, I did, but didn’t know why. I ran the distance of about half a football pitch to get to the unit where I saw Mr Simmons on his knees with his arm trapped between a pulley and the conveyor belt. He didn’t say anything.

“At first I was told by the call handler to make sure Mr Simmons was as comfortable as possible and wait for the paramedics to arrive. But when Mr Simmons stopped breathing the decision was taken to free him from the equipment.

“Once he was flat on the floor, I began the CPR procedure on Mr Simmons. I followed the exact directions the call handler was telling me. I continued this procedure until the paramedics took over.”

The jury was told that the first ambulance crew arrived at the scene at 4.28pm and that by 4.40pm a Great Western Air Ambulance had also landed at the site with a specialist trauma doctor on board. Mr Simmons was flown to Southmead Hospital in Bristol.

Despite medical intervention, Mr Simmons never recovered from his injuries and he died 15 days later on March 6.

Electrician Nicholas Barrow said: “I visited on the day of the incident as I had found a replacement circuit breaker for the equipment the company had recently installed.

“I had gone to the unit to see if the replacement part would fit the machine. When I arrived at the unit, the machinery was in operation and both conveyor belts were running.

“I noticed that the second conveyor belt, which had not been part of the set up when the machine was being commissioned, did not have any safety measures on it.

“I was surprised that the machine was being used without guard rails. It was too noisy to talk to anybody about my concerns and I left after 15 minutes.”

The jury also heard from Michael Raynor from the Health and Safety Executive who visited the site six days after the incident and while Mr Simmons was still alive.

Mr Stott told the jury: “The prosecution say that the machinery that Mr Simmons was working on was a literal death trap. Due to an incorrect set up of the hopper, the shredder itself, a chute leading from the machine towards the second conveyor belt would frequently get blocked which then had to be freed up by the workers.’’

The trial continues.