The e-commerce juggernaut has come under fire again for workplace safety concerns

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a hazard alert letter to Amazon for the Dec. 10, 2021 incident that left six workers dead.

On that day, the workers were killed when a series of tornadoes hit a warehouse (DLI4) in Edwardsville, IL. One employee was also critically wounded.

OSHA’s letter, signed by Area Director Aaron Priddy, did not mention any violation or citations for Amazon, saying the Seattle-headquartered company’s severe weather emergency procedures met minimal federal safety guidelines for storm sheltering.

Upon inspection, OSHA identified “three items which raised concerns about the potential risk to employees during severe weather emergencies,” said Priddy.

First, the agency found that the megaphone, identified by the company’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP) to be used to activate the shelter-in-place procedure, was locked in a cage and not accessible. Therefore, management resorted to verbally communicating warnings to personnel, instructing them to take shelter in the restroom. Also, some employees did not recall the location of the DLI4 designated severe weather shelter-in-place, according to the agency.

“Amazon managers began directing employees to go to the restroom in response to local weather alerts and tornado warnings approximately 10 minutes prior to the tornado’s touch down. Some employees were unaware the...

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