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| This Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois was destroyed by a December 10, 2021 tornado, killing 6 people, This tragedy is prompting debate on' tornado safety in structures like this |
As CNBC reports, this comes in response to inquiries from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY and Rep. Cori Bush, D-MO seeking more information on Amazon's plans to rebuild the Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse and questioning why it didn't have a safe room or storm shelter on site.
Buildings like warehouse, gymnasiums, large school cafeterias, shopping malls and big box retail stores are especially dangerous in tornadoes. Their roofs are supported only by exterior walls, so these structure are prone to collapse in tornadoes and other severe storms.
True to form, the December 10, 2021 tornado in Edwardsville caused much of the Amazon warehouse roof to fall in, which in turn caused the building's 11-inch thick exterior walls to collapse inward. That's what killed the six workers.
The walls collapsed onto a rest room where the six workers tried to take shelter. Other workers who fled to a designated storm safe room survived. the lawmakers.
The Amazon warehouse tornado in Edwardville, Illinois on December 10, 2021 was part of a large outbreak of twisters that put the spotlight on tornado workplace safety.
An even larger, more powerful tornado struck the town of Mayfield, Kentucky that night. That long-tracked tornado killed 76 people, including nine people who were working at a candle factory in Mayfield.
Shortly after the tornado, workers at the Mayfield factory said managers did not allow them to leave the facility ahead of the tornado to seek safer shelters in the basements of their nearby homes.
Lawmakers and safety advocates are still thinking about tornado safety in warehouses and similar structures, which prompted the recent letter from
"Amazon said in its responses that it follows guidelines from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Weather Service, and will continue to maintain a severe weather assembly area for workers to shelter in place.
OSHA guidelines say that basements, storm cellars or small interior rooms provide the best protection from a tornado. But the federal government doesn't require specially built storm shelters in warehouses."
For what it's worth, OSHA finished an investigation into the Amazon tornado deaths last April. The agency did not levy any fines or penalties against Amazon. They did order it review its severe weather policies.
CNBC said that after the fatal tornado, Amazon hired a meteorologist, created new emergency badge cards informing workers of evacuation points and assembly areas, and launched an internal center for monitoring and communication severe weather.
The lawmakers who wrote to Amazon are still dissatisfied.
"Amazon's apparent unwillingness to invest in a storm shelter or safe room at its Edwardsville facility is made even worse concerning by the fact that installing one could be done by Amazon at relatively low cost," they wrote.
Generally speaking, states and the federal government don't require special tornado safety rooms in warehouses.
Still, the December, 2021 tornado deaths at the Amazon warehouse are prompting renewed interest in storm safety in this type of building.
A task force in Illinois is about to start work on recommendations for these facilities, according to St. Louis Public Radio.
"The fact that we had such a tragic result makes me wonder if we don't need to look at those building codes and see that maybe Illinois needs to go above and beyond what's already expected," said Illinois State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, as STLPR reports.
Stuart will be among those sitting on the task force, which is due to issue its final report by January 1, 2025.
Amazon is facing lawsuits over the tornado deaths in the Edwardsville warehouse. That structure is currently being rebuilt.
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