Elevator Company Fined Following Worker Death At Levi's Stadium In Santa Clara
SANTA CLARA (KCBS) - State officials have cited an elevator company in the death of a worker at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara earlier this year.
63-year-old Donald White was working for San Leandro-based Schindler Elevator, when he was killed on the job on June 11.
"This employee was working in an elevator shaft, when the counterweight came down and struck and killed him," said Peter Melton, a spokesman with the Division of Occupational Safety and Health. "There are three citations. They are for serious violations and they generally have to do with the procedures for working in an elevator shaft and the lack of guarding of the counterweight in the elevator."
Elevator Company Fined Following Worker's Death At Levi's Stadium In Santa Clara
Melton said this is not the first time the company has been cited.
"In the last five years, (there have been) three accidents and a referral case, which resulted in some citations," he said.
Schindler Elevator will have 15 working days to appeal the citations and in a statement, the company said it intends to vigorously contest the fines, noting that the state had initially found no violations in connection with the incident.
The Cal-OSHA fines levied against Schindler Elevator total more than $50,000.
White is one of two workers who have died at the site for the San Francisco 49ers new stadium in Santa Clara, slated to open for the 2014 NFL season.
In October, Edward Lake Jr. was killed while unloading a bundle of rebar from a flatbed truck, when it fell on him.
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