Levi's Stadium Construction Resumes After Driver's Death

Construction crews headed back to work on Tuesday, a day after a driver for a steel company died when rebar fell on him at the construction site of Levi's Stadium where the San Francisco 49ers are expected to play.

Turner-Devcon, the main contractor for the $1.3 billion stadium in Santa Clara, held safety review classes for the roughly 900 employees working on the job. The company, based in New York and Milpitas, Calif., hopes to prevent another tragedy, like the one that befell Edward Erving Lake Jr., 60, of Vacaville, who was crushed to death about 6:30 a.m. Monday when a pile of rebar fell on his delivery truck.

Lake's death - the second Levi's Stadium construction death since June - rattled other workers on the job.

"I'm worried for my safety," Ross Fuentes told NBC Bay Area, adding that he works on rooftops.

MORE: Steel Company Driver Dies at Levi's Stadium

Santa Clara police deemed Lake's death accidental, and Cal-OSHA allowed crews back on the job Tuesday, despite an ongoing investigation into just how Lake was killed.

A family spokeswoman declined to be interviewed, citing the need for privacy.

According to Peter Melton, spokesman for California Department of Industrial Relations, or Cal-OSHA, Lake worked for Gerdau Ameristeel. He added that the only new information to add was that Lake was standing on the driver's side of the flatbed when he was killed, while the forklift and operator were on the passenger side of the truck.

Lake Jr.

A Gerdau spokeswoman emailed that she was "saddened" to confirm that a worker from the company's Napa Reinforcing Steel facility died, but she declined to say much more, citing the pending investigation.

Officials from 49ers organization and Turner-Devcon echoed similar sentiments.

On June 11, a 63-year-old elevator mechanic doing work at Levi's Stadium died when he was standing on a ladder beneath the counter-weight of an elevator when the weight came down and struck him on the east side of the construction site. That death shut down construction for two days. His union is still collecting money for the Donald E. White Memorial Fund. Melton on Monday said the company in that case - Schindler Elevator Corporation - will not be fined or cited for White's death.

Melton said that Cal-OSHA investigators determined that White knew the elevator was in motion, but stayed in the elevator pit. Melton said that White was experienced and was in communication with the elevator operator about what was going on. It is unknown why he stayed where he did.

Levi's Stadium is under construction and will soon be home to the San Francisco 49ers football team. The $1 billion, 68,500-seat stadium is expected to be done in time for the 2014 National Football League season.

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