Police confirmed to Daily Mail Australia Anderson was severely burned after a transformer exploded at a near-by abandoned warehouse.
He had allegedly been stripping the transformer illegally for copper to sell as scrap metal, not realising it was live, 7 News reported.
"The man sustained facial burns, he sustained chest burns, abdominal burns, arm and leg burns," Acting Inspector Joe Ibrahim from NSW Ambulance told 7 News.
Joseph was flown to hospital in a critical condition and identified by his brother who came looking for him,
"I didn't expect anything like this to happen at all," his brother Allan Anderson told 7News.
The 56-year-old (pictured) told emergency services personnel on the scene he had touched a transformer, which he didn't know was live. Photo / Facebook
"I just thought he was collecting scrap, and that's all I thought."
His family says he'd been collecting copper wire from the factory for the past week – ignoring the dangers.
His family claims he had been ignoring the dangers when taking copper wire from the factory for the past week.
"No it isn't worth the risk to anybody. I would tell people not to do it. Don't do it," Allan said.
A good samaritan (pictured) hovers a bottle of water above the burned man's mouth so he can drink, and makes sure the bottle doesn't touch the burned man.
Anderson is in intensive care, as a police investigation gets underway.
"No one should be there. No one was working there and that's why we need to determine what actually happened," Chief Inspector Bob Fitzgerald from NSW Police said.
