A SCAFFOLDING company boss has been given a six-month suspended jail sentence for breaching health and safety laws after Swindon man Jamie Mines lost his limbs following an electrical shock while working for his firm.

Jonathon Griffiths-Clack, of Sambourne Road, in Minety, appeared before Swindon Magistrates' Court last month he admitted the health and safety breach.

He also pleaded guilty on behalf of Boundary Scaffolding - the company that had employed 33-year-old Jamie at the time of the accident.

Today the court handed him the sentence, suspended for 12 months, and fined Boundary Scaffolding £80,000.

The court heard on December 19 last year Jamie was working at height, building a temporary shelter at Boundary Scaffolding’s unit on Kendrick Trading Estate.

It was while Jamie was holding a tin sheet to make the roof that it came into contact with overhead power lines.

As a result of the injuries he received, the young dad had to have his right leg, both hands and his left foot amputated.

He has since had to have his one remaining limb – his left leg – amputated as well.

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found the scaffolding should not have been built to that height so close to overhead power lines. The company and its director failed to ensure a safe system of work was in place for erecting a scaffold under overhead power lines.

Boundary Scaffolding Limited was fined £80,000 and has been ordered to pay full costs of £1415.10.

In a statement Jamie Mines said: “I can't quite put into words how it feels to wake up with no hands. I had five-month-old twin girls at the time of the accident, all I could think of when I woke up was the things I wouldn't be able to do, for example I wouldn't be able to hold my babies’ hands again, I wouldn’t be able to draw, play catch or teach my girls any of the things that I had learned with my hands.

“There's so many things I can't do it's hard to imagine, but to never feel anything with my hands again is what I struggle with the most.

“Sitting here now in my wheelchair nine months after the accident and I still don't walk, for a man who was very active before the accident it has been extremely difficult. I was a keen a sportsman as well as someone who enjoyed his job and was really hands on with my babies. How my life has changed is almost indescribable.”

Speaking after the hearing, HSE inspector Ian Whittles said: “This incident could have been prevented had the company and its director properly planned a safe system of work and ensured the scaffolding was erected in line with HSE regulations. Due to their failings, a young father of five has been left with life-changing injuries and the lives of an entire family have been changed forever.”

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