Oregon Amazon worker dies on warehouse floor—workers told to keep working

An Amazon worker died on the floor of the Troutdale, Oregon facility as "packages continued to roll" along the conveyor belts, reports The Western Edge. The 46-year-old man, who had the physically demanding job of a "tote runner," died on April 6 on the second level of the Troutdale warehouse and his cause of death is unknown, though Amazon said it was not work-related.

A 911 call made about 1:55 pm reveals that an employee called an ambulance and was instructed on how to use a defibrillator. A second call features a worker saying, "We have an associate here who I believe is probably dead." That worker went on to tell the emergency dispatcher, "This person does have extensive blood coming from their head. They are very blue looking."

The Western Edge obtained the calls via a public records request. The outlet reported that for over an hour, "workers in the facility were instructed to continue fetching totes, picking items off shelves and loading them onto trucks for delivery as the man lay dead, and management figured out their next steps. News of the fatality quickly spread through the building, but workers say top managers did not call operations to an immediate halt."

They spoke to a worker who was on the floor that day, identifying him as Sam, who tried to aid a woman who had rushed to the man's side to begin CPR. Sam, CPR trained, asked her manager if she could help the woman attempt to save their fallen colleague's life. 

Her manager, Sam said, replied "It has to be management or safety team. Please get back to work." Sam told The Western Edge that she pressed her manager to allow her to help and that her manager instead told her to "just turn around and not look. Let's get back to work."

Paramedics arrived and took over, but reporting does not indicate that Sam was permitted to go help. Sam told the outlet, "I've struggled to sleep. I have a lot of anxiety walking back into that building."

Another worker told the outlet that "they often find managers to be unresponsive to employee complaints." The worker, identified as RJ, said the warehouse is filthy and plagued with vermin.

Amazon has been replacing warehouse positions with AI and automation and RJ told the outlet that "the Troutdale facility has recently reduced how many tote runners it employs, which means the few people in those positions work harder and stay in the roles longer than they have in the past."

RJ said that on April 6, when the man died, workers were clocked out at 3:45 pm and told they would be paid for the rest of the day. Workers, however, were not given a reason for the schedule change.

Amazon gave a statement to The Western Edge, saying "We're deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our team, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with their loved ones during this difficult time. We’ve been in touch with his family and have provided resources to support them. For employees at our PDX9 facility, we’ve provided onsite grief counselors and additional support."