Following the death of six workers at a warehouse in the US state of Illinois due to a tornado, Amazon is facing questions about its health and safety policies.
In reaction to the tornado, the corporation claims that its crew acted quickly. When the storm pounded the warehouse on Friday, the roof fell.
Amazon spokesman Kelly Nantel stated in a statement that the business is truly saddened by the losses. Now, there are questions about whether enough shelter was provided if workers were told to go there right away, and whether the shifts should have gone forward that evening at all, given the extreme weather warnings.
According to the corporation, the team worked very swiftly to guarantee that as many employees and partners as possible could reach the shelter in place.
Austin J. McEwen, a 26-year-old freight driver, died in the bathroom, where many workers said they were urged to seek cover after receiving emergency notifications on their cellphones.
Over a 200-mile (322-kilometre) radius, catastrophic storms smashed into six US states on Friday evening, killing nearly 100 people and wrecking homes and businesses. Eight deaths have been confirmed by a candle company in Mayfield, Kentucky.
The storm increased quickly when it hit the Amazon warehouse, with winds reaching 150 miles per hour (241 kilometres per hour), ripping the roof off the football-field-sized facility, according to the National Weather Service. The concrete walls, which were 11 inches thick (28 cm), collapsed in on themselves.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched an investigation into the building’s collapse, according to the US Department of Labor. She said that Amazon doesn’t directly hire many of these people, instead of relying on subcontractors, potentially allowing them to avoid questions about whether those workers should have been summoned to work on Friday evening in the first place.
Jeff Bezos, the company’s founder, has also come under fire for tweeting photos of astronauts who had recently returned from a space tourism journey aboard his Blue Origin rocket.
Amazon announced a $1 million (£757,000) donation to the Edwardsville Community Foundation, as well as emergency items such as transportation, food, and water.
