A CARPET firm has been fined £5,000 following a horrific accident which left an employee with a serious head wound and several broken bones.

Tomkinsons Carpets, of Kidderminster, was handed the penalty for failing to prevent the accident in which Pamela Field, 35, fell more than 6ft from a platform on to a concrete factory floor.

Mrs Field, of Doverdale Avenue Kidderminster, had been unloading bobbins from a wooden palette when she fell, fracturing two ribs, both her wrists and suffering a cut to her head that needed 15 stitches.

She was found unconscious and bleeding "profusely" from her head wound following the incident on July 5 last year.

Joanne Carter, prosecuting for the Birmingham Health and Safety Executive at the hearing at Kidderminster Magistrates Court on Thursday, said the potential for more serious injury was clear.

The hearing later heard how the firm had installed temporary barriers months before the accident to prevent such a fall - only to remove them as they were making it difficult for workers moving the bobbins around the factory.

Presiding magistrate Morris Lashford said: "The management did attempt to resolve the matter but this was done in a very haphazard way. This could have been a fatality."

Mr Lashford commended the firm for its otherwise unbroken health and safety record and for entering a guilty plea.

However, he added: "This court takes a very serious view of health and safety matters. This is a perfect example of a company which has operated a system that has not been entirely satisfactory."

Edward Farrelly, defending, said the temporary barriers had been installed during early 2002 at the suggestion of an employee but were taken down as they were obstructing production and were proving a strain to those whose task it was to move them.

A permanent barrier was installed following the accident. Mr Farrelly said such an accident "cannot and will not occur again".

Mrs Fields, who shortly afterwards lost her job during a spate of redundancies at the troubled firm, is seeking compensation through a civil action. She declined to comment on the decision.