Abstract: An employee was on a jobsite for the second day. He was working from a fiberglass ladder, replacing fluorescent lamps in an alcove in a commercial bank. The new lamps had a higher output than the existing lamps. As the employee removed a lamp from a metal socket, a break in the ungrounded circuit conductor for that socket contacted the non-current-carrying metal parts. The employee received an electric shock, which caused him to move his hands involuntarily. This in turn caused the employee to fall from the ladder to the floor, a distance of 18 to 20 feet. He hit his head on a 5-foot-high, 5-inch-wide partition before landing on the floor. He sustained a laceration to his skull, a fractured skull, a collapsed lung, and broken ribs. One of the broken ribs contacted the spinal cord and caused paralysis of the employee from the waist down. The employee was hospitalized for his injuries. (The employer had an effective safety program and provided all necessary safety equipment.)