Illinois lawmakers will explore statewide standards following Amazon warehouse deaths
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Read more of the BND’s stories following a tornado that killed six at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville on Dec. 10, 2021.
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Illinois lawmakers will consider whether there should be statewide standards for warehouses following a tornado that killed six people at an Amazon facility in Edwardsville.
“The question is, with all the warehouses that are being built or have been built, should we be setting a state standard for that? That’s something that no doubt will be explored during this session of the General Assembly,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference Wednesday in East St. Louis.
“We should be looking at whether we should be creating statewide standards. We don’t have that now,” the governor said. “They’re really done on a county by county or municipality basis.”
The call came more than a month after an EF-3 tornado ripped through the 1.1-million-square-foot warehouse on Gateway Commerce Drive around 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 10. Winds up to 150 mph toppled concrete walls and caused the roof to collapse.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, opened an investigation that will review whether Amazon had a “proper emergency action plan,” U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Scott Allen said in an interview in December.
But that investigation will not examine the construction of the structure, whether it met building codes or whether those codes should change, according to the OSHA spokesman.
OSHA’s findings will be telling, but whether the codes need to be changed is a question for lawmakers, Pritzker said.
The General Assembly plans to hold hearings to explore what can be done in the upcoming session, said state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea. He said he has discussed the issue with state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, and state Sen. Rachelle Crowe, D-Glen Carbon.
“It was actually in their districts, not mine, but it doesn’t matter. We have warehouses throughout Illinois and throughout the metro-east,” Hoffman said. “We need to figure out whether the codes were followed and if the codes were followed, are the codes strong enough?”
An Amazon spokeswoman has said the warehouse was built to code and has welcomed reviews of their safety standards.
A wrongful-death lawsuit filed earlier this month from the family of one of the six who died claimed Amazon management directed Austin McEwen, 26, of Edwardsville, and the other five people who were killed to shelter in a bathroom. The company “knew or should have known that this location would not protect them,” the lawsuit stated.
“It would seem to me there should have been more safe zones for the workers that were actually safe zones,” Hoffman said.
The state Senate plans to convene on Feb. 1. The House canceled its late January session, but could return to Springfield for the governor’s State of State and budget address, which is scheduled for Feb. 2.
Amazon workers, families of those killed, community members, and the Missouri Workers Center — an advocacy group for low-wage workers — plan to hold a rally Thursday near the Amazon warehouse.
This story was originally published January 26, 2022 at 1:44 PM.
