A NEWPORT steel plant was fined £10,000 yesterday for failing to ensure the safety of employees working in a rod mill.

Abergavenny magistrates court heard how steelworker Russell Fletcher had his right thigh impaled on a steel rod in an accident at Alphasteel, Corporation Road, on August 8 last year.

Mr Fletcher was taken to hospital with part of the quarter-inch-diameter rod still in his leg.

Mr Fletcher suffered serious injuries and his colleague, David Jones, was also at serious risk. The court heard that the injuries could have been fatal.

Stephen Curry, from the Health and Safety Executive, told how employees using a machine making rods used for reinforcing concrete, in the Epsilon Mill, were unaware of the procedure to be followed.

He said that workers had been inadequately trained and assessed, and had limited experience. The workers were also unsupervised just before the accident happened.

Mr Curry said the risks were foreseeable and there were obvious potential hazards.

The cost of reducing the risk of this type of accident would be small, he said.

The court was told that a working procedure had been produced at the time of the accident and, had it been implemented, it would have eliminated the risk of serious injury.

Since the incident the company has sought the advice of specialists and the Health and Safety Executive to make substantial changes to the work equipment.

It has also changed the working, training and supervision procedures since the accident.

Alphasteel co-operated fully in respect of the HSE investigation. Magistrates reduced the fine by a third, from £15,000, because of Alphasteel's early guilty plea, but the firm was also ordered to pay £1,233 in costs.