Abstract: A power line worker was free climbing a utility pole to lower an overhead power line from its insulators on the crossarm so that another contractor could pull in another line. (The power lines, which were all new, were deenergized.) When the employee reached the work location, he held onto the pole with one hand and used the other to reach for the pole strap on his body belt so that he could pull it around the pole. As he was reaching for the strap, the gaffs on his pole climbers cut out. He fell 31 feet to the ground, then rolled another 30 feet down the hill from the base of the pole. He was hospitalized for injuries he sustained in the fall.