Abstract: On May 26, 2009, an employee was working as a journeyman carpenter. The employee was pulling a line, string, for a coworker to make it taut. The line was to provide alignment for the beams that were to be set for a span of approximately 120 feet long. The task o pulling the line was done from an 8-ft. fiberglass stepladder. The employee had already done this task a few dozen times on this jobsite. At approximately 1:00 p.m., the line snapped. The employee lost his balance and fell approximately 5 feet to the concrete slab. The ambulance came and took the employee to San Francisco General Hospital. The employee was hospitalized for four days and treated for fractured left elbow and leg. The employee was working from a stepladder which normally did not require it to be secured because the ladder was designed to be self-supporting. However, the employee was not performing normal work from the ladder. He was pulling on a string, which created lateral or horizontal force, and was not normal work to be performed from a stepladder.