"Lawsuit against Amazon filed in connection with December tornado that left 6 dead at downstate warehouse", 17 Jan 2022

A lawsuit against Amazon was filed Monday by the family of a delivery driver who was killed in December after a tornado hit an Amazon warehouse downstate, according to the family’s attorneys.

Six people who had been working at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville died following the Dec. 10 storm... [a]mong them was independent contractor Austin McEwen, 26, who, like other workers, was allegedly required to work under conditions management knew to be unsafe, according to a news release from the law firm retained by the family. The facility had inadequate emergency plans and no basement shelter, the lawsuit contends, and McEwen and others who died were told to shelter in a bathroom during the storm.

In a statement, Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said the lawsuit “misunderstands key facts.” The building was new and up to code, Nantel said, and “local teams” were following weather conditions at the time of the storm.

...[She also indicated that] “[s]evere weather watches are common in [that] part of the country and, while precautions are taken, are not cause for most businesses to close down... We believe our team did the right thing as soon as a warning was issued, and they worked to move people to safety as quickly as possible.”

Amazon representatives previously have said its emergency response, including in the event of severe weather, is part of training for warehouse employees. Amazon directs employees to shelter during tornadoes, representatives said last month, but the company declined to specifically state when employees at the Edwardsville facility were warned about the threat.

...The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration last month opened an investigation into the facility’s collapse, and has six months to complete it, OSHA officials said at the time.