A COMPANY making aircraft seats has been fined £660,000 after one of its employees suffered horrific injuries following a fall through a roof at its site in Gwent.

Kevin Lewis, 62, had a fractured skull, multiple broken bones, including eight to his ribs, as well as a fractured collar bone after carrying out work at Safran Seats GB Limited in Cwmbran three years ago.

He was knocked unconscious as he hit the concrete floor and suffered a bleed on the brain.

Mr Lewis had been dismantling and removing a spraying booth when he fell more than seven feet through its roof.

His terrible injuries were sustained while carrying out work as the firm were “carrying out work to vacate its premises” at Llantarnam Industrial Park in Cwmbran on May 19, 2020.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found inadequate planning of the work at height meant suitable equipment wasn’t used and insufficient instruction and training had been given to those carrying out the work.

Safran Seats GB Ltd pleaded guilty at Cwmbran Magistrates' Court to breaching Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 regulations and fined £660,000.

The company must also pay HSE costs of £13,472 as well as a £181 victim surcharge.

The were sentenced last week.

Following the case, HSE Inspector Seren Linton said: “Those in control of any work have a responsibility to devise safe methods of working.

“They should also provide the necessary information, instruction, and training to their workers on the safe system of working.

“If these basic practices had been followed, this incident would have been entirely preventable.”

The HSE added that in the five-year period between 2017 and 2022, 174 workers in Great Britain – a quarter of those killed in accidents at work – tragically fell to their death.