A WORKMAN died after being trapped by machinery at a recycling plant yesterday.

It is thought the 51-year-old was crushed when a crane bucket knocked him against a shredding machine.

A quick-thinking colleague is believed to have used a mechanical digger to lift the bucket off the victim before emergency crews arrived at the scene in Hartlepool.

The man was taken to hospital following the accident, but died yesterday afternoon.

An investigation has been launched by Cleveland Police and the Health and Safety Executive.

Police were not releasing the name of the man last night, but it is thought he was from the Easington Village area of County Durham.

He was working for a company in nearby Wingate, which was contracted by Hartlepool Borough Council to carry out recycling work at the site in Burn Road.

Dave Stubbs, the council's head of environmental management, said: "We would like to express our deepest sympathy to the deceased man's family.

"Our thoughts are with them at this very sad time.

"The Health and Safety Executive is investigating the accident, and we will provide the fullest possible support.

"In the meantime, we feel it would be inappropriate to speculate on what happened until the investigation is complete."

Three fire crews were called to the waste transfer station, along with an ambulance and police, just after 8am.

An ambulance spokeswoman said: "He was trapped between two pieces of machinery and suffered quite a serious open fracture to his left arm - but he was conscious."

The site, which is next to the authority's household waste centre, is used to recycle road sweepings, rubble and grass cuttings from council-owned land.

The council runs the site, but the shredding work is sub-contracted to A E Thompson, of Wingate, which it is thought uses the recycled green material to spread on farmland.