WorkSafe has laid a charge in connection with a horrific accident a year ago in which a New Zealand scaffolder suffered an electric shock and had to have both arms amputated.
Jahden Nelson spent months in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital burns unit, according to the NZ Herald, and underwent dozen of operations.
But the young father is thankful to be alive, crediting his miracle survival to the medical staff who cared for him and the unfaltering love of his partner Santana Tierney and their three children.
“They gave me motivation,” Mr Nelson told the Herald last year.“I guess they were the reason that I’m still here. They kind of pushed me through this.”
Mr Nelson suffered a heart attack, internal injuries and burns to 25-35 per cent of his body in April 2022 when a metal pole he was holding touched high-voltage overhead lines on a Massey work site, west of Auckland, while working for Supercity Scaffolding, sending a lethal electric current through his body.
Due to his injuries, he lost both arms, was only fully discharged from hospital recently and faces years of rehabilitation.
The experienced scaffolder said he thought the power lines had been disconnected to safeguard workers and was stunned to learn he and his colleagues had been exposed to live wires.
“I assumed they would have been turned off,” Mr Nelson said previously.
In a statement today, WorkSafe said inspectors had completed their investigation into the accident and filed a charge under Section 48 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.
WorkSafe would not say who or what entity had been charged.
“We are unable to identify the charged entity, as it has the right to seek name suppression when the case is first called in the Waitākere District Court.
“The victim in this incident has been updated about the developments.”
WorkSafe was unable to immediately confirm what maximum penalty the charge carried, but provided the following description of the charge: “Being a PCBU [person conducting business or undertaking] having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, including Jahden Nelson, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, namely dismantling scaffolding, did fail to comply with that duty and that failure exposed workers to a risk of death or serious injury arising from the interaction between workers and overhead electric lines.”
In a statement today, Mr Nelson said he was pleased with the decision to lay a charge but unable to comment further now the matter was before the courts.
Today’s charge comes just days out from the one-year anniversary of the accident. This is significant as WorkSafe has a 12-month statutory timeframe in which to lay charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act.
Local MP for Te Atatū Phil Twyford said: “This is excellent news, and what I had been hoping for.”
He said the court process can’t turn the clock back but it can deliver some justice.
“Everyone deserves to come home from work safe at the end of the day. No one should have to go through the incomprehensible pain and trauma that Jahden and his lovely family have had to go through.”
In his first interview after the accident in July, Mr Nelson told the Herald he had no recollection of the accident, nor the week preceding it. He remembered waking up weeks later from an induced coma to news he was a double amputee.
“I was kind of like, shocked that I had lost my arms,” he said.
Mr Tierney had been his “world” since the accident, remaining positive while juggling the children and hospital visits.
“She’s been here since the start and she’s still staying by my side.”
The couple’s eldest daughter was aware “Dad is sick”, but their two youngest didn’t yet comprehend what had happened.
Asked if he had a fighting spirit, Mr Nelson replied: “You could say that. I’m kind of stubborn. I wouldn’t give up without a fight.”
Mr Tierney earlier told the Herald they were initially told Nelson was unlikely to survive.
Doctors said they had treated just five people with injuries as severe and only one had lived.
“So for him to pull through the way he did, although he lost his arms - for him to still be here and have the opportunity to live a normal life is really amazing, and for our children, he’s still here to be their father,” Mr Tierney said.
Claire Attard was director of Supercity Scaffolding at the time of the accident. The Herald was unable to reach her.
However, Nick Jansen said he bought the company in October and Ms Attard was no longer involved.
He did not know about the WorkSafe charge until contacted by the Herald.
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“Obviously all the liability was with the previous owner. This is the first I’ve heard about the charge.”
Vector said it wouldn’t comment on the matter as it was before the courts.
This story first appeared on the NZ Herald and was reproduced with permission
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