A US company has been slugged with a $6 million workplace safety settlement, after a gruesome workplace death in 2012.

Sixty-two-year-old Jose Melena was trapped in an industrial oven and baked alongside 12,000 pounds of tuna at California’s Bumble Bee Foods factory in October 2012.

The 10-metre-long oven reached 270 degrees, and Mr Melena’s body was only found after it was turned off and re-opened.

The oven used a chain to pull carts of tuna into the ovens, but sometimes it would get snagged and require operators to go in and pull the carts through from the inside.

One of Mr Melena’s co-workers closed him inside the oven, mistakenly thinking he was in the toilet, and then activated the giant pressure cooker.

The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health has now issued a report which found the manned oven system was “inherently dangerous”.

The authorities have now forced Bumble Bee to replace all of its ovens (at a cost of around $3 million), and pay $1.5 million in compensation to Mr Melena’s family.

Bumble Bee will also pay the district attorney’s Environmental Enforcement Fund $750,000, as well as an extra $750,000 in fines, penalties and costs.

The LA Country Court sentenced former safety manager Saul Florez to three years’ probation, 30 days of community labour and $19,000 in fines, after he pleaded guilty to a felony count of wilfully violating lockout rules and indirectly causing death.

Meanwhile, director of plant operations Angel Rodriguez has been hit with 320 hours of community service, a fine of $11,400 and forced to take classes on confined space rules so that he can plead guilty in 18 months to a misdemeanour.

A statement from Bumble Bee said the company hopes the settlement will bring “closure”.

“We will never forget the unfathomable loss of our colleague Jose Melena and we are committed to ensuring employee safety remains a top priority at all our facilities.”