Abstract: A foreman and another employee were trying to find an electric power line under a slurry block (electrical shaft) in a 4-foot-deep trench. One employee, who had worked as a laborer for his employer for over 4 months, was using a steel digging bar to break the concrete, while his foreman was shoveling from the other side of the block. The digging bar pierced a 5-inch-diameter PVC conduit and cut into the 12-kilovolt cable inside. This caused an electrical fault, burned the employee who was using the bar. He sustained first, second, and third degree burns on his face and on both forearms. He also received an electric shock. He was hospitalized at a burn center for 3 to 4 days for treatment.