A glass recycling company was fined £180,000 after a forklift truck driver was crushed to death on his first day at work.

Ian Aliski, 25, an agency worker, tragically died when his truck overturned at the Recresco site in Ellesmere Port on April 26, 2010.

The company was today, December 17, told to pay the fine and more than £38,000 in costs after admitting a safety law breach.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how there was no company policy in place to ensure seatbelts were worn - and that Mr Aliski would likely have survived had he been wearing one.

Judge Thomas Teague, QC, told how the exact circumstances of the accident would never be known, but that Mr Aliski was either thrown from the truck or attempted to jump as it toppled.

He said there were 'systematic failings' in safety, including poor concrete surfaces where the trucks were driven and the narrow spaces in which they had to operate, but that there was no evidence of cost-cutting to improve profits.

He said: “He died from crush injuries as a result of being propelled from his seat as it overturned.

“It is extremely unlikely he would have been able to fall or jump if he had been restrained by a simple lap belt.

Friends and family of Mr Aliski, who had been hired on a temporary four-day contract and was just a few hours into his first day when the incident happened, were in court.

Judge Teague told them: “To those who loved Mr Aliski no sentence will seem remotely adequate and they are right to think that.

“He life was priceless and it cannot be measured in monetary terms.

“No penalty this court can inflict can ever undo the tragic events of April 2010."

Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigators found that forklift truck drivers regularly had to work in an area that was often covered in waste materials. This prevented them from turning the vehicles safely.

Mr Aliski was moving waste material from the recycling process – known as aggregate – from the production area to a storage shed when the forklift truck became unstable on the uneven surface and overturned.

HSE Inspector Martin Paren said: “Our investigation revealed a series of failures at the plant, with forklift trucks being used in an area that was completely unsuitable because of the uneven surface created by waste material scattered around the floor. There was also no policy in place for the use of seatbelts.

“Sadly, it was entirely foreseeable that someone was at risk of being badly injured or killed."

Recresco, which handles thousands of tonnes of glass which is melted down so it can be re-used, turned over £37m in the year ending September last year. But the court heard that the company is on course to make a loss in forthcoming accounts.

The company said it was 'reasonably confident' of paying the fine at a rate of £25,000 per month.