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This is a "GOOD" example of a "BAD" way to test your company's communication's and glove testing procedures. This pretty much sticks to us of those who work for either a small municipality, or of lesser hierarchy. Most larger CO-OP's and power company's have mandatory guidelines to rule out the possibility of this happening. If you're smart you will listen and learn. A few years ago during a mild hurricane, that we often deal with, we had a operation on a 44kv. line feeding a sub., that also had a operation simultaneously on one of the 3 phase outgoing feeders. Orders were sent out, and three different crews were in the process of repairing the line. One crew's job was to repair a break in the line approximately one quarter of the load away from the sub. The second crew was told to open the solid blades nearest the supply side of the break, and wait for further orders, while a third fixed the sub. line. Well to make the story short, the solid blades were told to be closed and the 44kv. line was made hot. That in turn made the disk keep spinning in the 12kv. sub. breaker that fed the three phase line that a lineman had both tails of the field phase in either hand trying to put the tails in a automatic, making him the jumper of approx. 120 amps. The only way he knew it was made hot on him was the fact that he saw that the street lights began to come up around him. I guess when its my turn to be a beggar and a chooser, I beg someone to tell me what's going on and I choose to have some good gloves.