Abstract: An employee was stacking pallets outside a shipping and receiving area. He tossed a pallet on top of a stack, and it went beyond the pallet stack and struck a 480-volt electric meter located about 610 millimeters behind the stacked pallets. The employee stepped down off the loading dock to retrieve the pallet and determine what damage had been done to the meter. He was in a position directly in front of the meter base when the meter exhibited the first signs of an electrical fault, arcing at the base and meter. The meter failed, and the ensuing electric arc burned the employee and threw him about 1.5 meters. The employee was hospitalized with third-degree burns over about 40 percent of his body.