PROFIT OVER EMPLOYEES

Amazon Workers Say They Got No Disaster Safety Training Before Tornado

“I have been here six and a half years and have never once been involved in a tornado safety drill on my shift,” one employee wrote.

In the days that followed the collapse of an Illinois Amazon warehouse that was hit by a tornado, company workers gathered on an internal message board to express concern about the lack of safety training they’d been given, according to The Intercept. Six workers died in the collapse. Many of the dozen employees who spoke anonymously to the outlet said they had never participated in so much as a fire drill during their time at Amazon, let alone a tornado drill. Several said they would be unsure of what to do in an emergency. “I have been here six and a half years and have never once been involved in a tornado safety drill on my shift, as well as have not taken part in a fire safety drill in about two years,” one employee at an Indiana fulfillment center wrote.

“Emergency response training is provided to new employees,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Daily Beast, “and that training is reinforced throughout the year.” A few employees explained to The Intercept they had participated in safety drills but that they had been rushed, chaotic, and confused. “I’ve had better drills in public school,” one said. Several explained they’d been told drills had been paused due to the coronavirus pandemic, but another employee rebuffed that explanation, saying that “it’s because it would cost them a lot of money to stop production long enough to do it.”