A man's parakeet flew onto a power line after escaping outside. The man used an aluminum ladder and pole to try and reach the bird. There is potential danger in this situation as the aluminum ladder and pole could provide a conductive path for electricity from the power line, through the man's body, and to the ground, risking electrocution.

1. A man accidentally let his parakeet out the door. The bird flew up to a power line and sat there.
Unable to coax the bird down, the man stands on an aluminium ladder and reaches for the bird
with an aluminium pole. Is there any potential danger in this situation? If so, what, and if not,
why not? (Figure adapted from: Irwin, J. D. & Kerns, D. v. (1995). Introduction to Electrical
Engineering. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.)
Solution
Yes there a potentially fatal scenario because here the man may provide a path to ground from
the power line through his body. Since aluminium pole is a conductor so as soon as the man
touches power line there there will be a electrical path produced through him and power passes
from pole to man and then to ground.