Abstract: On May 5, 2003, Employee #1 and four coworkers were working for an electrical contractor on power distribution and utility panels inside a generator building at a prison facility. At the time of the accident, they were in the process of disconnecting old back-up generators. A Cummins 1250-kilovolt generator and a Van Tran 2500-kilovolt step-up transformer were temporarily connected to the building to provide back-up power. Employee #1, the foreman of the crew, was removing a busbar in the electrical cabinet that was directly connected to the Cummins/Van Tran setup when the generator was inadvertently started up and the power transfer switch engaged. He suffered a 4160-volt electric shock and first- to third-degree burns over 35 percent of his body from the resulting arc blast and fire. In addition to holding the busbar, he had his knees leaning against other busbars in the cabinet. The service technician who started up the generator was from the company who rented it to the electrical contractor. Earlier, the foreman and his crew were unable to engage the power transfer switch on the generator so the foreman had called the service technician to have the generator checked and repaired, as necessary. He also conveyed the urgency of bringing the generator up due to a planned power outage that would allow his crew to completely disconnect the old generators. Upon arrival at the job site, the service technician went straight to the generator and several minutes later, started it and engaged the power transfer switch. The service technician did not notify anybody prior to energizing the generator. The electrical contractors failed to implement lockout and tagout procedures on the generator and transformer. Likewise, lockout and tagout procedures were not applied to the power distribution and utility panels on which the crew was working.