A MAN was left with two fractured arms and severe facial burns after it is believed he fell 40 feet at a steelworks.

Steelworker Mark Chard, 29, fell off a gantry above an arc furnace at Alphasteel Ltd in Corporation Road.

The accident was described as "near-fatal" by a colleague.

Mr Chard was taken to intensive care at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital, and then transferred to the Morriston Hospital Burns Unit, in Swansea, where he is still recovering.His parents were at his bedside over the weekend.

Alphasteel bosses say they are co-operating with an investigation into the incident.

Managing director Styros Kopitsis confirmed Mr Chard had sustained his injuries by falling at work, and said: "Something went wrong with the platform support but it is being checked out."

Administration manager Richard Steed said: "We're investigating this in conjunction with the Health and Safety Executive.

"Mr Chard fell five metres down from a platform where the arc furnace sits, and as far as we're aware he has fractured both arms and a bone in his face.

"Our standard procedure in an instance like this is to check all our safety measures and routines."

A colleague of Mr Chard, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "Mark was walking on a gantry across the top of a furnace containing cooling waste metal when he fell 40 feet.

"Underneath the crust which forms over the top of waste steel in the furnace is burning metal with the consistency of thick custard.

"Mark suffered some horrific facial burns, as well as the fractures, but he's lucky to be alive - he should have died from that fall."

But Mr Steed added: "There were no witnesses to the accident, so I'm not sure how any of these claims can be qualified.

"We believe Mr Chard fell onto the ground."

A spokesman for the South Wales Ambulance Service said: "We did attend the Alphasteel site at 10am on July 10 to take a patient who had fallen to the Royal Gwent Hospital."

Last Monday, two days after the fall, a blaze in the control room for an electric furnace was put out by three fire crews at 7.35am.