Abstract: On December 28, 2005, Employee #1 and two coworkers were installing a new 480-volt switchgear and removing the old 13,200-volt gear in a loft above the second floor in a shopping pavilion. Because their work involved power outages that might otherwise affect the businesses, they were working from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The coworkers were situated on the front side of the old switchgear; Employee #1 was assigned to go to the back side, crawl inside, and disconnect the ground wires. The ground wires were dead, but the unit was energized. To access the work area, Employee #1 stepped through a 15 in.wide area between the old and new switchgear units, and then had to step about 3 ft to reach his work area. Lying on his stomach inside the back of the old switchgear unit, he started to disconnect the grounds. As he was finishing the last one, some kind of contact was made that caused a large electrical flash that came toward him. As the fire reached Employee #1's face, he reacted by backing out of the switchgear and off the 1 ft wide ledge, falling 12 ft 10-1/2 in. to the second floor of the pavilion. As he fell, he tried unsuccessfully to grab the plastic curtain. Employee #1 struck the top of a metal table about 2 1/2 ft above the floor, bounced off it, and landed on the floor. Emergency Services was called and Employee #1 was transported to University Hospital. He suffered a shattered left kneecap, a fractured left shoulder, a fractured left big toe, an injured right wrist, and multiple contusions all over his body. The electrical flash had also caused a slight burn on his left cheek and over his left eye, and his eyebrows, mustache, and beard were singed. At the time of the accident, Employee #1 was not wearing a hard hat or any form of fall protection.