‘I’m gonna die’: Electrocuted scaffolder learns he has lost both arms

A young scaffolder whose arms were both amputated after he was electrocuted at work has been brought out of an induced coma and told his family “I’m going to die” after learning of his horrific injuries.

And the owner of the property where the accident happened has hit out at lines company Vector for allowing work near live, unsheathed, high-voltage powerlines despite the risk of an electric shock.

“A big noise needs to be made,” property owner Heather Graham told the Herald. “Something has to be done or this will happen again.”

But Vector says its consent required the scaffolding company to have a safety observer on site, and it was up to the site operator to meet applicable health and safety rules.

“It would be inappropriate for us to speculate about how the scaffolding company managed their site, and we expect that WorkSafe will be considering this as part of the investigation.”

Father of three Jahden Nelson, 28, has lost both arms and faces years of rehabilitation after the accident two weeks ago at an address at Massey in West Auckland.

He had been dismantling scaffolding when a pole he was holding touched overhead wires.

Witnesses saw a “fireball” erupt and heard a loud explosion when the electric current ripped through Nelson’s body before he collapsed.

His mother Toni Paikea said her son was brought out of an induced coma on Tuesday and informed about the accident and extent of his injuries after 15 days of heavy sedation.

“He wanted to know which hospital he was at. We told him Middlemore. He seemed to think he fell off the scaffolding. He’s aware he had an accident at work.”

Paikea said informing her son he had lost both his arms was the “hardest bloody thing I’ve ever had to do”.

“He was like, ‘I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die’. He just wanted to tell everyone that he loved them.”

Nelson was undergoing further surgery yesterday and it was unclear how much of Tuesday’s discussion he would remember.

Doctors had told the family he was likely to remain in critical care for three to four weeks, “then they will move him if, touch wood, he gets through this”, Paikea said.

Nelson’s employer, Supercity Scaffolding, had been hired as a contractor as part of a major renovation of the property, the Herald has learned. The company was granted a close approach consent by Vector which allowed it to carry out work near the lines but within a “minimum approach distance” to protect workers.

The Herald has also learned a Vector inspector visited the site before the work was undertaken.

Paikea said the inspector instructed the company to use the same crew who erected the scaffolding to dismantle it, ensuring the workers were properly briefed on health and safety protocols. However, Paikea said her son was not on the original team who erected the scaffolding but was called in to dismantle it on the day he was injured.

A Vector spokeswoman said the consent was issued after a site visit by a Vector representative.

A givealittle page for the family has raised more than $50,000.