London: Indian major Tata Steel has been fined 500,000 pounds over the death of worker who fell into a stream of molten liquid at the then Corus-owned plant in Wales.
The incident happened in 2006 at its Port Talbot plant, when it was owned by Corus. Tata Steel acquired the plant in 2010.
Tata admitted to health and safety charges in the Swansea Crown Court, and has taken steps to prevent a repeat of the accident.
The worker was Kevin Downey, 49, who was reportedly engulfed in steam and left disoriented during a night shift.
As he tried to retrace his steps in the blinding steam he wandered into a channel of molten slag heated to 1500 C.
Despite suffering 85 per cent burns, Downey thanked his rescuers and remained conscious for a while, but died in hospital.
Justice Spencer of the Swansea Crown Court fined the company 400,000 pounds in relation to Section 2 offence and 100,000 pounds in relation to the Section 3 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.
It was also ordered to pay the prosecution's costs of 57,487 pounds.
Jon Ferriman, Tata Steel's director of Port Talbot Steelworks, told BBC: "Tata Steel deeply regrets Kevin's death and the terrible loss suffered by his widow Tanya, his two children and other family members and friends".
He added: "His death also had a profound impact within the steelworks itself. Kevin was well known and respected throughout the business. The health and safety of our employees and contractors is our most important priority".
"Tata Steel constantly places a great deal of emphasis on creating a strong and ever improving safety culture in the organisation and into improving our processes and procedures.
We want to ensure everyone working on our sites is safe," Ferriman said.
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