The U.S. has opened an investigation into the deadly collapse of the Amazon warehouse, according to Reuters in Illinois

Author: Richa Naidu

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (Reuters) – U.S. occupational safety watchdog Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ 🙂 is investigating the circumstances of the collapse of a storm in an Illinois building on Friday night, where six employees were killed by a U.S. Department official. Labor said Monday.

The U.S. Department of Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) has six months to complete its investigation, report and propose penalties for violating occupational safety and / or health regulations, said Scott Allen, regional director of the U.S. Department of Labor. issues, he said via email. He added that those in charge of compliance have been there since Saturday.

Six workers were killed when an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois collapsed in a devastating storm, police said. A tornado swept across six U.S. states, leaving a trail of death and destruction in homes and businesses more than 200 miles (322 km) away.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the company will cooperate with the investigation. “OSHA is investigating all work deaths and we are accepting them,” he said.

Responding to a reporter, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said officials are investigating the state of the warehouse before giving it away.

“Efforts have already been made to identify some of the challenges … if there was a structural problem, it was exactly what the storm’s trajectory was and affected various parts of the building,” Pritzker said.

TORNADO CHRONOLOGY

The National Weather Service said a CST tornado struck the area around 8:30 p.m., Friday, and quickly escalated when it hit an Amazon warehouse. The upper wind was estimated to be 150 miles per hour (241 km / h) and caused severe damage.

The site received tornado warnings between 8:06 p.m. and 8:16 p.m., before the tornado struck the building at 8:27 p.m., Amazon said.

Several workers told Reuters over the weekend that Amazon managers had promised to protect workers in toilets after receiving emergency warnings from authorities on mobile phones. At least one employee was killed there, according to a colleague.

Amazon said workers were directed to a shelter in a designated assembly area at the front of the building, which was near a toilet.

Some of the employees told Reuters that they had mobile phones with them, even though they thought it was an Amazon policy, which prevented them from having the phones in their hands while they were working. Amazon said there was no policy to prevent employees or contractors from having phones at work.

Edwardsville, a city of 27,000 people, St. Louis, Missouri, is located 18 miles northeast.

The company has three facilities in Edwardsville: a storm-proof distribution station, as well as a filling center and a sorting station. The delivery station was opened in July 2020 to prepare customer shipment requests for the last mile.

The site, a compound made up of few buildings, has been in high security and private police over the weekend, only available to rescue teams and some Amazon and government officials. The remains of the destroyed warehouse were mostly destroyed, turned into rubble.

“It was crazy – when I was walking from Pontoon Beach, Illinois.

“I’ve just seen the roof completely crooked … it’s confusing that people had to lose their lives while they were working.”

45 Amazon employees came out safely.