Abstract: Two power line workers were working from the bucket of an aerial lift. They had been grinding on one of the poles of a backbone structure within a substation, preparing to move some of the crossarms higher. They had decided to take a break and come down to the ground for a drink of water. One of the employees was operating the bucket, while the other one was just looking around and daydreaming. Although their work area was about 3 meters away from a 230-kilovolt overhead power line located above them, the employees came close enough to one of the conductors to cause an electric arc between the conductor and (probably) the extension cord to which their portable grinder was connected. (No one witnessed the event, and the aerial lift operator could not remember what took place.) Both employees sustained injuries, for which they were hospitalized. (The nature and extent of those injuries was not described on the original form.)