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In a troubling incident at an Amazon facility in Oregon, workers have claimed they were directed to maintain their tasks even as a colleague lay deceased on-site, according to recent reports.
The incident occurred on April 6, when a 46-year-old employee collapsed and died on the second floor of the warehouse. The individual was performing duties as a “tote runner,” a role that involves moving tall stacks of yellow plastic bins onto carts and transporting them through the warehouse’s extensive corridors. These bins are then filled with products and prepared for shipment.
One employee, who called emergency services, described the dire situation to the dispatcher, saying, “We have an associate here who I believe is probably dead. This person does have extensive blood coming from their head. They are very blue looking.”
Despite the gravity of the situation, several workers reported being told to continue their regular duties, which included collecting totes, picking items, and loading them for delivery. Another employee recounted a manager instructing them to “turn around and not look” at the scene, urging them to “get back to work,” indicating that only management or the safety team should handle the situation.
Several employees acknowledged being instructed to continue fetching totes, picking items off shelves and loading them onto trucks for delivery as the man lay dead. Another employee said a manager told them, “It has to be management or safety team,” and to “just turn around and not look. Let’s get back to work.”
First responders arrived on the scene, which led to the area where the worker lay eventually being closed off.
After the incident, Amazon released a statement in part saying: “When our onsite team was notified, three CPR certified team members, including two from our on-site safety team, provided CPR and deployed an automated defibrillator until emergency medical services (EMS) arrived shortly after. The area where the incident occurred was cordoned off while our safety teams and EMS cared for our employee, which was their top priority. Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, and our team focused on ensuring our employee received the care he needed, protecting his privacy, and ensuring the safety of everyone onsite instead of distracting from those efforts by focusing on immediately evacuating other areas of the building in those early moments. Shortly after this event occurred, employees were sent home with pay for the rest of the day.”
The worker’s cause of death has yet to be identified.