Abstract: A power line worker with over 13 years of training and experience was on a 55-foot-tall utility pole. He was at the same level on the pole as a telephone line. The pole had been treated with cellon. (The practice of treating poles with this substance was discontinued in 1980 because it caused hard fibers on the surface of wooden poles.) The employee had stepped over the telephone line and was repositioning himself when his left gaff cut out. He fell about 19 feet to the ground, landing on his heels, then falling forward onto his right wrist. He was hospitalized for bilateral fractures of his heels, was treated for a closed reduction of all fractures, and was discharged after 7 days. Nothing unusual was found on the pole where the cutout occurred.