Abstract: A maintenance worker was working alone on overtime duty. He had been assigned to repair a fluorescent soffit lighting fixture mounted in a 2.7-meter-high ceiling. He was working from a 1.8-meter-tall insulated ladder, replacing the ballast in the 277-volt fixture. He had not deenergized the circuit before working on the fixture. While using a pair of wire strippers, he contacted energized parts, received an electric shock, and fell to the floor. His supervisor later found his body after his wife reported him overdue from work. The medical examiner reported the preliminary cause of death as a severely fractured skull. The employee also had a torn aorta. The employee had not followed his employer's procedures for replacing ballasts, which apparently called for deenergizing and testing the lighting circuit.