Abstract: Two crews and a supervisor were connecting a secondary main. One crew was making a connection in a service box south of a manhole. The other crew was making a connection in the manhole. The manhole crew discovered oil on the ground, probably from a leaking cable or joint. The crew also noticed that several feeders in the manhole were already wrapped with sorbent pads and plastic. The supervisor reported the conditions, and the crew was going to rewrap all the feeders, take a sample, and have the manhole cleaned before connecting the secondary main. Two workers entered the manhole and began wrapping the energized feeders. During the rewrapping process, one of the feeders faulted. The ensuing electric arc severely burned the two workers. One of them was able to get out of the manhole on his own, and emergency personnel removed the other injured worker. Both injured workers died several days later from complications related to their injuries. Three other workers on the scene, including two emergency responders, were treated for smoke inhalation. Several other workers were treated for trauma. (None of the nonfatally injured employees were listed on injury lines on the original form.) Investigation revealed that employees in one division of the electric utility were regularly wrapping leaky feeder cables and joints while they were energized. According to the utility, that activity had been going on for years unbeknownst to higher levels in the company. Apparently, that division misinterpreted company policy regarding work on energized cables.