Kamal Ghorui
A worker died in the Oregon warehouse of Amazon on April 6.
An Amazon worker reportedly collapsed and died on the floor of the Oregon warehouse while his colleagues were told not to look and get back to their work, the Western Edge reported and claimed that the company tried to keep a lid on the April 6 incident. The outlet also got a statement from Amazon in which they expressed deep sadness at the passing of a member during work.The report cited the 911 calls in which one employee said that the person who fell to the ground had extensive blood coming from the head. It said that while the man lay dead for more than an hour, the work in the facility was going on as usual, as workers were instructed to continue fetching, picking, loading items and the management was deliberating what to do next. All workers who spoke to Western Wedge sought anonymity and they claimed that even after a week, they did not know how the man, believed to be 46 years old from office records, died. A woman ran to help the man when he collapsed and started to give CPR. Another employee asked her supervisor whether she should give CPR. “It has to be management or safet team. Please get back to work,” the supervisor reportedly said. “Just turn around and not look. Let’s get back to work,” the supervisor added.The man who died on April 6 was a “tote runner” a job in which one has to gather stacks of yellow plastic bins as tall as a person, loading them onto a cart and hauling them up and down the long corridors of the warehouse for delivery to other workers who then fill them with goods that go onto trucks. “We’re deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our team, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their loved ones during this difficult time. We’ve been in touch with his family and have provided resources to support them,” a spokesperson was quoted by the outlet. “For employees at our PDX9 facility, we’ve provided onsite grief counselors and additional support.”
