The Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) has asked workers to briefly pause during their workday following the consecutive deaths of two contractors in the Twin Cities.

In a move described as unprecedented, the agency issued a statewide "safety stand down" on Monday, in an effort "to honor the tragic loss of two construction contractors on Minnesota roads last week and to focus on improving safety in work zones," according to MnDOT.

The ways in which the "deliberate pause" was observed varied across agencies, offices and crews, with each deciding for themselves what was best, agency spokesperson Anne Meyer told Bring Me The News.

Pierre Mack, 29, of St. Paul, died Wednesday morning after he was hit by a truck with a boom attachment in an MnDOT construction zone on I-35W in Bur

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