A DIRECTOR of a kayak manufacturing company facing health and safety breaches which allegedly led to a worker's horrific death has admitted he had not known about some of the relevant legislation.

Peter Mackereth, technical director of family firm Pyranha Mouldings Ltd, in Runcorn, designed the industrial oven in which supervisor Alan Catterall was accidentally locked in and burnt to death.

Murdishaw dad-of-three Mr Catterall, aged 54, died on December 23, 2010.

Mackereth told a jury at Liverpool Crown Court that he had been in the industry for about 25 years and it was the fifth generation oven he had been involved in designing.

He said: "I had a procedure I was satisfied dealt with the risk for oven entry."

He agreed that the risk was of death and he had designed it with automatic doors which closed and locked and without a safety escape hatch. Previous ovens only had one door and had two workers involved in closing the door.

He explained that the new ovens have two doors, one at each end, and agreed that it was his responsibility to ensure that the machines were safe.

He said that he was responsible for health and safety at the premises at Premier Point.

He said he had used various experts in helping design the oven.

He added: "I consider I had looked at the safety aspects of the design and considered safety in terms of the detailed design."

But quizzed by Andrew Thomas,QC, prosecuting, he agreed he had been "ignorant of the relevant standards."

Asked if he claimed expertise in safe machinery design he admitted he had been unaware that the Supply of Machinery Safety regulations applied to the ovens as he thought they only related to those designed for commercial sale.

Mackereth, aged 60, of Iso Vivoid, Llangollen, North Wales, said because of his experience in the industry: "I believed I knew what I needed to make them operate safely."

Mr Thomas pointed out that the firm had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on the machinery and a quarter of the work force were involved with it and asked if it had not occurred to him that certain safety standards would apply.

Mackereth replied: "No, I thought I was in touch with what was being used in the industry."

Mr Thomas described him as having "winged it" and not taken care to inform himself of legislation and standards. "I didn't consider I was," he replied.

Mackereth went on to admit that he had not obtained a copy of the Essential Health and Safety Requirements to see if the oven complied with them.

He said he had been happy with the design work of electrical engineer Paul Keddie, acting on his brief, but had not known that one of the features was that when the isolator switch on it had the effect of closing the doors.

"Was that the intention?" asked Mr Thomas.

"No, it wasn't", he replied.

"Is there anything in the design that you can point to in the machinery design that you put there to help address the risk of someone become trapped inside," asked Mr Thomas. "No," replied Mackereth.

Mackereth, who holds a BSc in mechanical engineering, was not present when Mr Catterall died but arrived shortly afterwards and at the request of police formally identified his body.

He is on trial facing a health and safety breach.

Pyranha Mouldings Ltd denies a charge of corporate manslaughter.

The case continues.