Shocking footage has emerged from China of a surgeon removing a spanner from an electrician's skull after he had a nasty accident at work.

The video, captured in Yuxi, Yunnan Province last Saturday, features the doctor explaining how the injury occured, as well as x-rays of the tool inside the man's head.

According to local reports, the electrician was working when the spanner fell off a 40-metre high platform, and stabbed him in the head.

The surgery took an hour-and-a-half with doctors saying the helmet saved his life.

He is now in a stable condition and recovering in hospital.