On Tuesday, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced that Amazon would not be held liable for the deaths of six employees in the collapse of an Illinois warehouse which was struck on December 10 by an EF-3 tornado.
According to OSHA, the DLI4 facility in Edwardsville, Illinois, “met minimal safety guidelines for storm sheltering” when it was leveled by the weather system. The warehouse was among several workplaces that were struck by the storm, which caused nearly 100 fatalities across the lower Midwest United States in the month of December 2021. The Mayfield Consumer Products candle factory near Louisville, Kentucky, was hit on the same night, leading to 8 fatalities.
Although declining to fine the corporation for the catastrophe, a letter published by OSHA pointed to several “risk factors” that it noted in conducting its investigation which was started following the disaster.
Of top concern was that a megaphone, which is cited by the facility’s Emergency Action Plan (EAP), was “locked in a cage and not accessible.” In addition, “some employees did not recall the location of the DLI4 designated severe weather shelter-in-place.”
— source wsws.org | 28 Apr 2022