A Melksham construction company has been fined £20,000 plus £5,000 costs after a crane operator suffered an electric shock and nearly died when the equipment he was using hit overhead power lines.

Sub-contractor Lee Burge 38, who lives near Bristol, was using the crane to move sections of steel at Trowbridge Rugby Club March 20 last year as the new clubhouse and play area were being built by Ashford Homes (South Western) Ltd.

Swindon Crown Court heard today that as Mr Burge started to lift a section of steel using the crane, the hook block came into contact with an 11kV power line and he suffered an electric shock.

Mr Burge, who was airlifted to hospital by Wiltshire Air Ambulance, was resuscitated but now suffers from long term memory loss, the court was told.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) established that Ashford Homes had been warned by the electricity company about the presence of overhead power cables, and had received advice on the removal of the power supplies running across the site.

However, no measures were put in place by the company to prevent plant and equipment accessing the area beneath the power lines or for the power supply to be diverted or isolated.

Ashford Homes (South Western) Ltd of Merlin Way, Bowerhill, Melksham, was fined £20,000 and ordered to pay costs of £5,159 after pleading guilty to breaching Regulation 34(2) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007.

HSE inspector Ian Whittles said: “Work near overhead power lines should be carefully planned and managed so that risks from contact or close proximity to the lines are adequately controlled.

"Ashford Homes failed to do this, and had been operating a range of machinery capable of coming close to the lines before Mr Burge was seriously injured.

“Luckily Mr Burge was resuscitated, but he now suffers from life changing complications due the electric shock he received.

"He was extremely close to losing his life and this is down to the failure of the construction company to adopt a safe system of work.

“This terrible incident could have been avoided had the company placed physical barriers on site so that no plant or equipment could gain access to either side and directly below the overhead power lines, or if the hive voltage cables were diverted or isolated.”

Information on construction site safety and working near power lines is available from the HSE at www.hse.gov.uk/construction and www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/information/overhead.htm