Abstract: On April 30, 2007, Employee #1, an apprentice, and coworkers were setting up a new wood pole for a 7200 kilovolt distribution line. They first drilled the hole with the insulated boom situated under the lines and at full extension. The crew then retracted the boom fully, making it uninsulated, and began to unload the replacement pole from the truck. While maneuvering the pole, the signalman allowed the boom to violate the approach distance of 25 in. The operator started to boom down and before the signalman could react, had touched one phase line. The operator immediately boomed back up, breaking the conductive path. At the moment of contact Employee #1 was moving around the truck to help the signalman. He was apparently trying to steady himself while climbing over a pallet of power cables, and had one hand on a grab bar of the truck and the other hand on a metal garage door. The electrical current entered the palm of Employee #1's left hand and exited through the fingers of his right hand. He was able to take one or two steps and respond to a question before collapsing. Coworkers and the responding paramedics administered CPR, but Employee #1 died.