Abstract: On June 23, 2003, Employee #1, a lineman, and three coworkers were placing new 12 kilovolt conductors on utility poles in Anaheim, CA. The existing equipment, which had 12 kilovolt circuits, needed to be reconfigured to accommodate the new conductors. Employee #1 was in an International bucket truck with a Versalift bucket assembly, while one of his coworkers, a fifth-stage apprentice, worked with hot sticks and rubber gloves on the east side of the pole opposite the bucket. Existing conductors had been placed vertically instead of in the usual horizontal manner, so the work involved moving the street side, neutral 12 kilovolt conductors to the field side pole pin position. The neutral 12 kilovolt line had an unwanted crimp splice connector sitting atop the insulator, so Employee #1 pulled off this connector and clamped down the neutral line in the insulator. He then told the apprentice coworker to climb down, since this particular job was completed. The other coworkers, a groundman and the foreman, were also on the ground. Then, for some reason, the material handler load indicator contacted the energized phase, and a bucket control knob contacted the neutral wire, resulting in a phase-to-neutral flash. Employee #1 sustained second- and third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body, primarily his upper torso. Subsequent investigation revealed that at some point the insulating line hose covering the field side phase had been removed. Employee #1 was also supposed to be wearing rubber gloves, but his apprentice coworker was not sure if this was true.