diff --git a/pmd/etc/build.xml b/pmd/etc/build.xml
index ded3cc8cfd..1c188e3131 100644
--- a/pmd/etc/build.xml
+++ b/pmd/etc/build.xml
@@ -57,10 +57,10 @@
 
     <target name="pmd">
         <taskdef name="pmd" classname="net.sourceforge.pmd.ant.PMDTask"/>
-        <pmd rulesetfiles="rulesets/imports.xml" shortFilenames="true">
-            <formatter type="html" toFile="foo.html"/>
-            <fileset dir="C:\j2sdk1.4.1_01\src\java\lang\">
-                <include name="**/*.java"/>
+        <pmd rulesetfiles="rulesets/tmp.xml" failOnError="true" shortFilenames="true">
+            <formatter type="html" toFile="c:\foo.html"  isReportFilePathAbsolute="true"/>
+            <fileset dir="C:\data\pmd\pmd\test-data\">
+                <include name="Foo.java"/>
             </fileset>
         </pmd>
     </target>
diff --git a/pmd/etc/changelog.txt b/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
index 3ea06e5892..dd6632602d 100644
--- a/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
+++ b/pmd/etc/changelog.txt
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Fixed bug 672742 - grammar typo was hosing up ASTConstructorDeclaration which wa
 Fixed bug 674393 - OnlyOneReturn rule no longer counts returns that are inside anonymous inner classes as being inside the containing method.  Thx to C. Lamont Gilbert for the bug report.
 Fixed bug 674420 - AvoidReassigningParametersRule no longer counts parameter field reassignment as a violation.  Thx to C. Lamont Gilbert for the bug report.
 Fixed bug 673662 - The Ant task's "failOnError" attribute works again.
+Fixed bug 676340 - Symbol table now creates new scope level when it encounters a switch statement.  See the bug for code details; generally, this bug would have triggered runtime exceptions on certain blocks of code.
 Fixed bug in OverrideBothEqualsAndHashcodeRule - it no longer bails out with a NullPtrException on interfaces that declare a method signature "equals(Object)".  Thx to Don Leckie for catching that.
 Added an optional Ant task formatter attribute 'isReportFilePathAbsolute'. Thx to Andriy Rozeluk for the feedback.
 
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeCreator.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeCreator.java
index dac2d58dc4..b111263ede 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeCreator.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeCreator.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTUnmodifiedClassDeclaration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTUnmodifiedInterfaceDeclaration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.JavaParserVisitorAdapter;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.SimpleNode;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTSwitchStatement;
 
 import java.util.Stack;
 
@@ -33,6 +34,7 @@ public class ScopeCreator extends JavaParserVisitorAdapter {
     public Object visit(ASTTryStatement node, Object data){openScope(node);return data;}
     public Object visit(ASTForStatement node, Object data){openScope(node);return data;}
     public Object visit(ASTIfStatement node, Object data){openScope(node);return data;}
+    public Object visit(ASTSwitchStatement node, Object data){openScope(node);return data;}
 
     private void push(Scope scope) {
         if (scopes.empty()) {
diff --git a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeFactory.java b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeFactory.java
index 7a41852b5b..3e587becbc 100644
--- a/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeFactory.java
+++ b/pmd/src/net/sourceforge/pmd/symboltable/ScopeFactory.java
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTUnmodifiedClassDeclaration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTUnmodifiedInterfaceDeclaration;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.Node;
 import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.SimpleNode;
+import net.sourceforge.pmd.ast.ASTSwitchStatement;
 
 import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -48,6 +49,7 @@ public class ScopeFactory {
         localTriggers.add(ASTBlock.class);
         localTriggers.add(ASTTryStatement.class);
         localTriggers.add(ASTForStatement.class);
+        localTriggers.add(ASTSwitchStatement.class);
         localTriggers.add(ASTIfStatement.class);
         methodTriggers.add(ASTConstructorDeclaration.class);
         methodTriggers.add(ASTMethodDeclaration.class);