Abstract: An electrician was assigned to remove an overhead lighting fixture. The circuit supplying the fixture was deenergized. The electrician was standing on a 1.8-meter-tall ladder disconnecting the fixture from the circuit. When he touched the wiring, he felt an electric shock. He then pulled on a conductor with a bare end and received an electric shock from the 277-volt conductor for about 10 seconds. His left shoulder was touching a water pipe. He was knocked unconscious and fell from the ladder. He regained consciousness at a hospital, where he was treated for two wounds on his right index finger and released the same day. Investigation showed that neither the electrician nor his supervisor knew that there was an energized emergency line near the fixture. The supervisor had been certain that the lighting fixture was deenergized.