An Amazon worker on the Troutdale, Oregon warehouse handed away at work final week, an organization spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.
In line with a report from the Western Edge, an unbiased investigative outlet masking the Pacific Northwest, the employee collapsed on the ground on the PDX9 warehouse and lay useless as staff continued to work round him.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our workforce, and our ideas and deepest sympathies are with their family members throughout this troublesome time,” Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson advised TechCrunch. “We’ve been in contact along with his household and have supplied sources to help them. For workers at our PDX9 facility, we’ve supplied onsite grief counselors and extra help. We’re grateful for the work of the Multnomah County Sherrif’s Division and native emergency medical companies.”
On a Reddit discussion board for Amazon success middle employees, a number of folks claiming to work at PDX9 mentioned that the constructing had been particularly sizzling after soundproof curtains have been put in, which restricted airflow. They speculated that the warmth may have contributed to the worker’s demise, as it will compound the bodily calls for of success middle work. In line with the Western Edge, some staff observed that the constructing was cooler after they returned to work the subsequent day.
Amazon, nonetheless, mentioned that Oregon’s Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA) decided the incident to be non-work associated. Staff have been despatched house early and have been paid for the rest of their shift; the night time shift was cancelled, and staff scheduled to work have been paid as effectively, based on the corporate.
The PDX9 warehouse has a status for having harsh working situations; in 2018, an investigation from Reveal, an investigative journalism outlet, discovered that 26% of staff on the warehouse had sustained accidents. A report primarily based on 2024 OSHA information confirmed that the corporate’s success facilities report critical accidents at a fee greater than two occasions the warehouse business common.
Amazon’s success facilities have been topic to a number of probes by federal companies and prosecutors over warehouse security, with investigators alleging that the corporate manipulated information and did not correctly doc office accidents. The US Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York is conducting an ongoing investigation into office security at Amazon warehouses.
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Amazon advised TechCrunch that the corporate has seen a 43% discount in its international recordable incident fee since 2019 — a metric that tracks any work-related harm requiring greater than fundamental first help. The corporate mentioned it has invested greater than $2.5 billion in security enhancements since 2019, together with a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in 2026 alone.
