Abstract: Employees of a painting contractor were working in a substation of the slag portion of a copper manufacturing plant. The contractor was under contract to an electric utility to paint the steel structure of the substation. (The copper plant's substations were being refurbished and upgraded. The contract issued by the copper manufacturer involved cleaning and replacing the insulators and other parts as part of the upgrading.) The day of the accident, the contractor's employees planned to paint a portion of the structure that was close to some insulators and overhead power lines. That morning, the contractor employees participated in a toolbox meeting with the electric utility. The employees of the contractor were told by the employees of the utility that the electric power had been deenergized in the east bay of the slag substation and that they were to work in that specified area. The tagout procedures for deenergizing substation equipment was not followed as it should have been. As a result, one of the painting contractor's employees was electrocuted, and another received an electric shock.