An Amazon worker on the Troutdale, Oregon warehouse handed away at work final week, an organization spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.
In response to a report from the Western Edge, an impartial investigative outlet protecting the Pacific Northwest, the employee collapsed on the ground on the PDX9 warehouse and lay useless as workers continued to work round him.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our crew, and our ideas and deepest sympathies are with their family members throughout this tough time,” Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson advised TechCrunch. “We’ve been in contact together with his household and have offered sources to assist them. For workers at our PDX9 facility, we’ve offered onsite grief counselors and extra assist. We’re grateful for the work of the Multnomah County Sherrif’s Division and native emergency medical companies.”
On a Reddit forum for Amazon success heart staff, a number of folks claiming to work at PDX9 stated that the constructing had been particularly sizzling after soundproof curtains had been put in, which restricted airflow. They speculated that the warmth might have contributed to the worker’s demise, as it might compound the bodily calls for of success heart work. In response to the Western Edge, some workers observed that the constructing was cooler after they returned to work the following day.
Amazon, nonetheless, stated that Oregon’s Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA) decided the incident to be non-work associated. Workers had been despatched dwelling early and had been paid for the rest of their shift; the night time shift was cancelled, and workers scheduled to work had been paid as properly, in keeping with the corporate.
The PDX9 warehouse has a popularity for having harsh working situations; in 2018, an investigation from Reveal, an investigative journalism outlet, discovered that 26% of workers on the warehouse had sustained accidents. A report based mostly on 2024 OSHA knowledge confirmed that the corporate’s success facilities report critical accidents at a price greater than two instances 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 data and did not correctly doc workplace injuries. 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% reduction in its international recordable incident price since 2019 — a metric that tracks any work-related damage requiring greater than primary first support. The corporate stated it has invested greater than $2.5 billion in security enhancements since 2019, together with tons of of tens of millions of {dollars} in 2026 alone.
