An Amazon worker died at its London-area mega-plant shortly after the online commerce giant sent staff outside for about 20 minutes in wind-chill temperatures of -20° C due to a fire alarm.
Amazon officials – confirming the account to The Free Press by an on-site witness – say the worker collapsed about an hour after going back inside its large fulfillment centre south of London. Employees had been sent outside from about 11:10 p.m. to 11:27 p.m. Sunday in snowy, dangerous cold conditions.
“There’s nothing more important than our employees’ health and safety, which is why we ensured the site was evacuated quickly and given warm-weather kits to keep employees warm and comfortable,” said Maureen Lynch Vogel, an Amazon spokesperson.
“The site was cleared for re-entry about 16 minutes after the alarm sounded, and employees were encouraged to warm up in the break room before returning to their work stations.”
Ontario’s Labour Ministry is now investigating, Lynch Vogel said. The ministry investigates all workplace deaths. The area’s fire chief, Jeff McArthur of the Southwold Fire Department, confirmed the duration of the fire call before workers could go back in.
The worker collapsed near a water cooler and their work station about an hour after returning to work after the evacuation, Lynch Vogel said.
“We’re grieving the loss of our colleague, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. We’re providing support to anyone at the site who may need it, including counselling services, and encouraging employees to use resources available to them via our employee assistance program,” Lynch Vogel said.
“We won’t speculate on the cause of death, but the death itself does not appear to be work-related.”
One stunned co-worker who saw emergency crews trying to revive the man spoke to The London Free Press but asked not to be named. That worker disputed the length of time employees were out in the cold, saying it was longer than 17 minutes.
The worker warmed in a vehicle at one point but says they were ordered back out of the car by a supervisor. The worker says they saw another co-worker suffer a nose bleed amid the cold exposure and seek shelter in a vehicle only to be told to exit by a supervisor. Lynch Vogel denied workers were forced out of their vehicles, adding the company has video of several workers waiting in their cars to return to the workplace.
Employees were given so-called cold-weather kits upon exiting, including blankets, hats, gloves and socks, Lynch Vogel said. The worker said there were blankets doled out but not enough for everyone.
Once employees came back inside after the evacuation, several employees, including the person who later died, spent about 45 minutes in the break room warming up before returning to their workstations, Lynch Vogel said.
Amazon has come under fire for safety and working conditions in the past. In 2023, a U.S. Labor Ministry investigation cited six warehouses for unsafe working conditions.
In November, the Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) at the University of Illinois-Chicago found 41 per cent of Amazon workers it surveyed have been injured on the job. The centre surveyed 1,484 Amazon employees about the toll of the company’s work intensity.
In 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in the U.S. opened a national investigation into ergonomic injuries and issued more than a dozen citations to the Seattle-based online commerce company. “I have read reports about Amazon and they make car assembly lines look good. They’re very demanding of their people,” said Luis Domingues, London and area director for a nationwide union, Unifor. The Talbotville plant, on the site of the former longtime Ford factory, opened in October and employs about 1,000. Workers at the plant sort items for delivery to warehouses and then for home delivery.
