Abstract: At approximately 11:00 p.m. on January 27, 2007, Employee #1 was working inside a refinery furnace, Furnace-55, removing scaffolding. Work inside Furnace-55 was done with a confine space permit. Coworkers were on a scaffold dismantling the structure and they handed the disassembled scaffold pieces down to Employee # 1. Employee # 1 passed the disassembled scaffold components through the furnace access hole to workers outside of the confined space. A coworker on the scaffold had unlatched a retaining clip on a long horizontal scaffold pole. Due to the noise in the furnace, the coworker indicated his actions by banging another pole with his wrench, expecting others would hear this signal. A second coworker, who did not hear the signal, opened the latch for the other side of the pole. The pole, approximately 17 pounds, fell approximately 27 ft and struck Employee #1 on the side of his hard hat. Employee # 1 suffered severely compressed nerves on his spine and a laceration on the side of his head. He had severe numbness in both hands and arms and was hospitalized.