Amazon Warehouse Collapse in Baltimore Leaves Two Dead (engadget.com)

An anonymous reader quotes Engadget: Amazon is grappling with tragedy at one of its warehouses this weekend. A 50-foot wall at the company's southeast Baltimore fulfillment center collapsed on the night of November 2nd in the midst of a large storm, killing two people. They worked for an external company, an Amazon official told the Baltimore Sun... The storm was a particularly violent one that had torn roofs off apartment buildings and collapsed a ceiling at a TJ Maxx store, injuring three people. Amazon was caught up in extreme weather that unfortunately led to fatalities.

Comments

Re:Luckily Amazon sells body bags...

[Chewbacon]

This AC is telling the truth: https://www.amazon.com/two-4-f...

Well shit.

[Gravis Zero]

Well that's the last time I order a "like new" warehouse support beam. ;)

Re:They shouldn't have been there.

[ShanghaiBill]

Statistically, it is safer to stay in a building than to try to drive home in a storm. Amazon made the correct call to keep people at work. They had no reason to believe that the wall was going to collapse.

Re:They shouldn't have been there.

[Mal-2]

If the storm kicked up after the people were already there, then those people should have been pulled into the most reinforced areas of the building (typically the office) until it passed, because walls do collapse. This is not an unforeseeable event. Get the people away from the most hazardous conditions and ride it out. Don't just keep working.

I suppose you'd argue against evacuating the entire building when there's a fire, too. Only move the people that will be in the way of the fire department. No. Overreaction for the sake of caution is tolerable when the events are infrequent enough.

This.

[rsilvergun]

Companies hire contractors specifically for cases like this. It's why it's cheaper to hire a contractor even when you're paying a contractor agency for the privilege. The lack of these kinds of benefits is why workers needed Unions. If the employees had families they're probably not only grieving but trying to figure out what they're gonna do with one less breadwinner. A worker's comp payout would at least delay that, maybe long enough to figure out what to do next.

Re:They shouldn't have been there.

[DNS-and-BIND]

Obviously you have never had a shitty low level job before. They want you there rain or shine and there are penalties for absenteeism - in the database there are no fields for excuses. Miss work and you get written up and miss it again and you get fired. You've got to save those write-ups for the critical times, like when you're sick or your kid has a school concert. Can't waste them on a silly storm which will pass in an hour anyway.