Illinois lawmakers take step toward investigating warehouse safety after Amazon collapse
Editor’s note: This story was updated at 3:53 p.m. Thursday with comment from state Rep. Katie Stuart.
Nearly four months after a deadly tornado hit an Amazon facility in Edwardsville, Illinois lawmakers gave initial approval to a bill Thursday that would create a task force to study warehouse safety standards.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has been studying the issue since an EF-3 tornado struck 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, killing six workers.
In February, Stuart held a virtual hearing with metro-east lawmakers, storm shelter experts, union officials and warehouse company representatives. Safety experts called on Illinois to adopt and enforce the latest building codes for storm shelters.
Amazon has said it built the warehouse to code and that workers followed safety procedures. The facility did not have “hardened spaces” built to withstand a tornado, according to Jim Bell, director of operations for the National Storm Shelter Association.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, opened an investigation following the tornado. The agency’s website showed the Amazon case in Edwardsville was still “open” as of Thursday afternoon. The investigation will review whether Amazon had a “proper emergency action plan,” U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Scott Allen said in an interview in December.
House Bill 1563 passed with bipartisan support from 94 representatives. Nine Republicans voted against the bill, which goes to the Senate for consideration.
The bill’s co-sponsors included state Reps. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, LaToya Greenwood, D-East St. Louis, and Amy Elik, R-Fosterburg.
The Warehouse Safety Standards Task Force would be made up of two state representatives appointed by the speaker and two appointed by the minority leader. The Senate president would appoint two state senators, as would the minority leader. The governor would also appoint representatives for retailers, manufacturers, mayors, unions and warehouse workers.
The task force would be created immediately, if the act becomes law. Members would be required to provide quarterly updates on their findings to the governor and General Assembly. A final report of their recommendations would be due no later than Jan. 1, 2025. The task force would dissolve a year later.
Stuart said she was thankful to colleagues who “supported the formation of a Task Force to determine how we can protect the safety of workers in the warehouses that are located all across Illinois.”
“I look forward to hearing from experts in engineering, code enforcement, the building trades, and all the fields that will help us make informed decisions as we move forward,” Stuart said.
This story was originally published March 31, 2022 at 3:01 PM.
