On Monday, a worker saved his mate’s life by hitting him with a wooden plank in a desperate attempt to get him to release his grip on an electrified lamppost, according to local press reports in the Basingstoke Gazette and the Southern Daily Echo.
Mark Bradley suffered severe burns to his face when a lamppost he was helping to erect hit an overhead cable at a Network Rail site in Gresley Road, Basingstoke. His brother Michael Bradley said Ade Savage, a work colleague, saved 50-year-old Mark’s life by hitting him with a wooden plank in a desperate attempt to get him to release his grip on the electrified lamppost.
Ade Savage attempted to pull him away, but that gave him an electric shock. He then tried to punch him, but that also gave him a shock, and so he started hitting him with a plank of wood, which helped him release his grip. He later checked himself into Queen Alexandra Hospital, in Portsmouth, where he was also treated for burns.
Mark Bradley is a contract worker at the Gresley Road site, where Network Rail is building a £10 million regional control and training centre. Emergency services were called to the site just before 4pm on Monday following a report that a man had suffered serious burns. A fire crew from Basingstoke fire and rescue station cleared the area as an electric current was still arcing by the lamppost when they arrived.
On Tuesday, a Network Rail spokesman said: “A contractor working on Network Rail’s new control centre in Basingstoke was injured while working on the site, managed by BAM Construction. An investigation will be carried out and the Health and Safety Executive has been informed. Our thoughts are with him and his family.”
In a statement, BAM Construction said: “We can confirm that there was an accident on our Basingstoke site late on Monday afternoon, where we are working for Network Rail. We deeply regret that this has happened, and our thoughts are with those affected. We are carrying out an urgent investigation into this incident, together with our client.”
