Family and friends of the man killed in a construction accident in Vancouver on Thursday say he was a safety-conscious man who was devoted to his four children.

Twenty-eight-year-old Dan Martens of Mission had 10 years of experience working with wall forms, but he was killed when one came loose at the Three Harbour Green development on Cordova Street.

Those who knew him best say safety was always Martens' first priority because he was a mature family man.

"If something needed to get done, he would get it done," family friend Ken White told CTV News.

"Initiative stood out for me -- his work ethic -- and just his laugh and sense of humour. He could make anybody laugh."

The young construction worker leaves behind his wife Tamara and four children, ranging in age from two months to 12 years.

"They're going to need all kinds of support -- continued support, not just yesterday, today and tomorrow, but for a long time. The kids have lost their dad and Tamara has lost her husband," White said.

In a second accident on Thursday, a man from Houston, Texas fell a reported 90 feet while repairing the sails at Canada Place. He is on life support in hospital and is not expected to live.

Both projects were run by the Ledcor Group, and have been closed since the accidents. The company says financial support will be there for both families.

Ledcor's Lee Coonfer described Thursday's accidents as "unprecedented" and "numbing" and said that once the causes of the accidents are determined, the company will hold a safety awareness meeting. The company and WorkSafe BC are both conducting investigations.

"We're taking the opportunity to bring all of our sub-contractors together and all of our hourly and salaried employees from projects in Vancouver, and share the information and the findings of the investigations with them just to remind them how important safety is," Coonfer said.

The Construction Maintenance and Allied Workers union believes worker safety has been compromised at the sites.

"There are no accidents, there's only failures of processes and systems. I'm sure after investigations are concluded here, they'll find that there were failures of processes and systems," the union's Jan Noster told CTV News.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger