A house painter was electrocuted while setting up a 40-foot (12-meter) aluminum ladder. It contacted an electrical line.

He was preparing to paint the eaves on an apartment building and was holding the ladder while a co-worker pulled the rope that extends the ladder. A wind gust blew the ladder into an 8,000-volt power line. Both painters were knocked to the ground and their hands and feet were burned. Only one could be revived.

Before you begin work, look for hazards such as power lines that could come in contact with tools or yourself. If a ladder could possibly contact exposed, energized electrical equipment, the ladder must have nonconductive side rails.