Worker Killed at 49er Stadium, Found at Bottom of Elevator Shaft

By Daniel Distant, Christian Post Reporter Wednesday, June 12, 2013

A worker was killed at the 49ers stadium while working on an elevator shaft Tuesday. The elevator mechanic, was hit by a counterweight and fell off his ladder, which was propped up at the bottom of the shaft.

The worker killed at the San Francisco 49ers new stadium was Donald White, a 63-year-old elevator worker who was employed by Schindler Elevator Corp. He was found dead at the bottom of the shaft at 6:50 a.m. Tuesday morning, California Division of Occupational Safety and Health officials told the Associated Press.

Robert Rayborn, co-director of the project for Turner-Devcon, which subcontracted to Schindler, assured reporters that the workers had not been rushing the project. No overtime was logged on the stadium, and the workers were about 40 percent complete on the structure when the accident occurred, which is slightly ahead of the schedule.

"There nothing to indicate it was anything more than a normal work day ... and a terrible accident," Rayborn told the San Jose Mercury News.

In addition, Schindler said in a statement that safety equipment is required and put in place to protect their mechanics. The San Francisco 49ers also released a statement saying they were "deeply saddened" by the death.

"There's been 1,000 workers a day working at that site for almost a year now, and it's been amazingly safe," Santa Clara spokesman Dan Beerman told The San Francisco Chronicle, adding that the city mourned White.

Because of the untimely death, construction on the site has been halted until Thursday. Levi's Stadium, the $1.3 billion behemoth, will function as the 49ers new home during the 2014 season. The workers have been on site doing construction since April of 2012.

This isn't the first incident in which a Schindler employee has been hurt. An apprentice elevator mechanic fell 20 feet down a shaft in Palo Alto in 2011. He broke bones, but could have been protected with safety equipment. In that case, Schindler was fined $18,000.