Abstract: A POWER LINE CONTRACTOR CREW WAS REPLACING A 60-FOOT CLASS 2 UTILITY POLE, CROSSARMS, AND HARDWARE ON A DEENERGIZED 69-KILOVOLT OVERHEAD POWER LINE. THE EMPLOYEES HAD ALMOST COMPLETED THE JOB. THEY ONLY HAD TO ATTACH ONE CROSSARM BRACKET TO THE NEW POLE. THE OLD POLE WAS TOO CLOSE TO ALLOW THE EMPLOYEES TO DRILL THE HOLES, SO THE EMPLOYEES HAD TO REMOVE IT FIRST. ONE OF THE EMPLOYEES, WHO WAS WORKING OUT OF AN AERIAL LIFT, WAS ATTACHING A HAND LINE TO THE TOP OF THE OLD POLE. TO DO THIS, HE LEANED AGAINST THE STATIC LINE, REACHED AROUND BOTH POLES, AND TOUCHED EITHER THE NEW STATIC BRACKET OR THE NEW POLE'S GROUND WIRE. A 3- TO 5-FOOT SECTION OF THE GROUND WIRE ON THE OLD POLE WAS MISSING, AND THE STATIC LINE HAD NOT BEEN GROUNDED TO THE DEENERGIZED PHASE CONDUCTORS. (THE EMPLOYEES HAD NOT INSPECTED THE CONDITION OF THE OLD POLE BEFORE PERFORMING THE JOB.) THE EMPLOYEE IN THE AERIAL LIFT WAS ELECTROCUTED BY THE DIFFERENCE IN POTENTIAL BETWEEN THE EXISTING STATIC WIRE AND THE NEW GROUND WIRE.