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Amazon has faced scrutiny for its warehouse practices before, but recent events have taken it to another level.
Last Friday night, an Amazon warehouse in Illinois was struck by a tornado, causing part of the building to collapse, and killing at least 6 employees, per The New York Times.
… some of Amazon’s warehouse practices have been put under the microscope, including:
Employees who previously insisted on safety drills were met with resistance due to scheduling challenges and a general pause on safety drills during the pandemic.
One former member of the safety committee at a distribution center in Kent, Washington, claims the reason is more sinister: “It’s because it would cost them a lot of money to stop production long enough to do it.”
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation into the building collapse.
The organization has 6 months to assess if there were any clear-cut safety violations and determine the scope of penalties from there.
*NOTE: Amazon isn’t the only logistics company that bans cellphones on the warehouse floor — FedEx also faced recent scrutiny over the practice.