THE FAMILY of textile worker Margaret Shaw is planning to take legal action against the Bury firm where she was killed after becoming tangled in machinery.

Health and safety officials are also considering a prosecution after hearing a vital safety feature on the machine might have prevented her death if it had been working.

Workmates at Andrew Textile Industries in Walshaw Road tried desperately to free mother-of-three Mrs Shaw as her head and arm were dragged into warping machinery, an inquest in Bury heard last Friday (May 25).

One worker had tried in vain to stop the machine with his hands, being unable to find an emergency "off" button.

A post mortem revealed that 41-year-old Mrs Shaw had died almost immediately as a result of a fractured neck and vertebrae as well as multiple injuries.

The event of August 1 last year were described to the jury inquest by colleagues of Mrs Shaw, who had recently become a grandmother and joined the firm five months before the accident.

She had worked on the Beninger warping machine for six to seven weeks and although not fully trained, had grown in confidence.

Mrs Shaw had been helped to load the machine by her supervisor Mrs Susan Schofield who, wary of interfering, had left her to carry on alone. Less than a minute later screams were heard, after Mr Shaw's overalls had become snagged on a screw protruding from a rotating beam.

Mechanical engineer Mr John McDonald, representing the Health and Safety Executive, said that the machine operator would have been pulled underneath and downwards, her weight applying pressure to a safety bar. This should have engaged into a lower position to stop the machine, but the mechanism was not working.

Although the equipment could also be stopped by lifting the bar, the downward force made this impossible.

Alerted by the cries, but stood some distance away, Mrs Schofield hit the emergency stop button at the side of the machine after 20 seconds, while other workers grappled with machinery.

Felt plant operator Mr Paul Roberts said that had he known the location of the button, he could have reached it within five seconds.

The jury returned a verdict of accidental death to deputy coroner Mr Matthew Cox.

The equipment, built in the 1970s, had been in use overseas and was installed at the firm 10 years before the accident. A similar fatality occurred in Greater Manchester in 1995, involving the same type of machine.

After the hearing, the Health and Safety Commission confirmed they would be considering a prosecution against the company for possible contravention of health and safety legislation.

Mrs Shaw's husband of 23 years, David, of Manchester Road, Tyldesley, also re-affirmed his family's plans to take legal action.

He said: "The hearing went as we expected although it doesn't really matter what the verdict was. I will definitely be pursuing the matter. It's been a terrible ordeal for us.

"The machine has now been brought up to scratch but it's like shutting the door after the horse has bolted."

Managing Director of Andrew Textiles, Mr Peter Haworth, who was present at the inquest, told the Bury Times: "It was very upsetting at the time and for our employees to have to relive it now was distressing for them, but these things have to be dealt with.

"It has been very unpleasant but the verdict of accidental death is satisfactory under the circumstances."