Building Resumes At New 49ers Stadium After Worker's Death
SANTA CLARA (CBS SF) -- As work resumed following a death Monday at the construction site of the San Francisco 49ers' new stadium in Santa Clara, neighbors of the 60-year-old worker in Vacaville remembered him as friendly, helpful and handy.
Edward Erving Lake Jr. was killed after a piece of rebar fell on him as he was unloading materials from his delivery truck at the stadium site, located at Centennial Boulevard and Tasman Drive in Santa Clara.
According to Turner-Devcon, the project's general contractor, Lake was severely injured and taken to a hospital where he passed away.
He was working as an employee of subcontractor Gerdau Ameristeel, according to officials with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Jerry and Cheryl Coates, who lived down the street from Lake on Andrea Drive in Vacaville, said the neighborhood was shocked to hear of his death.
Lake had lived in the neighborhood for at least 30 years and was known for helping out with household projects.
"He's really going to be missed in the neighborhood," Cheryl Coates said. "If someone needed help with carpentry or anything, he'd always help."
She said, "This whole thing is unbelievable."
Jerry Coates said Lake, in fact, built cabinets for the couple's home in their garage.
He said Lake had a girlfriend and an adult daughter.
"Everybody knew him, he helped everybody out," he said. "It's a loss to the neighborhood."
Work resumed at the stadium site Tuesday after being halted on Monday following the death.
Turner-Devcon stadium project co-director Jonathan Harvey said on Monday that the company would meet with its employees to discuss the incident and that Cal/OSHA officials have deemed the site safe for work.
The death is the second in the past four-plus months at the site of the $1.3 billion stadium, which is scheduled to open in 2014 after the 49ers play their final season this year at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
On June 11, worker Donald White, 63, was killed when he was struck in the head by a counterweight in an elevator shaft, Cal/OSHA officials said.
(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco and Bay City News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
