Abstract: Employee #1 was a repair technician for a regional telephone company. He was on a service call and had isolated the problem to a specific telephone pole. Because a manzanita bush growing at the base of the pole, Employee #1 was limited to using about one quadrant of the pole as he began to climb. He was using climbing spurs and a climbing belt, but not the belt's safety strap. Employee #1's feet were about 4 ft above the ground when one of his spurs, embedded near a split in the pole, popped out as he put his weight on it to move his other foot. Both his feet came off the pole and he fell backward to the ground. Employee #1 landed on a piece of reinforcing steel, which struck his climbing belt at a point where a thick tab was attached to it, providing an overall thickness of 7/8 in. He suffered a cracked vertebra and two fractured transverse process bones.