Current Events > Amazon worker dies of heart attack, lays on floor for 20 minutes before noticed

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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/amazon-warehouse-worker-deaths

In September, Billy Foister, a 48-year-old Amazon warehouse worker, died after a heart attack at work. According to his brother, an Amazon human resources representative informed him at the hospital that Billy had lain on the floor for 20 minutes before receiving treatment from Amazons internal safety responders.

How can you not see a 6ft 3in man laying on the ground and not help him within 20 minutes? A couple of days before, he put the wrong product in the wrong bin and within two minutes management saw it on camera and came down to talk to him about it, Edward Foister said.

Amazon said it had responded to Foisters collapse within minutes.

An Amazon worker on the same shift told the Guardian: Bill was on the floor for quite some time and nobody knew that time until cameras were reviewed, but in 20 minutes a worker in a nearby department saw him lying on the floor and then began radio callouts for 911. It really is unbelievable how Bill was laying there for 20 minutes and nobody nearby saw until an Amnesty worker with a radio came by.

The worker, who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, noted the Amnesty worker started CPR after finding Foister. Amnesty workers are Amazon floor monitors who ensure the warehouse floors are clear and reset robot units when necessary.

The incident is among the latest in a series of accidents and fatalities that have led to Amazons inclusion on the National Council for Occupational Safety and Healths 2019 Dirty Dozen list of the most dangerous employers in the United States. The report cited six Amazon worker deaths between November 2018 and April 2019, and several news reports over the past few years that have detailed dangerous working conditions.

Foister, a stower who scanned and stocked warehouse shelves with products at an Amazon warehouse in Etna, Ohio, just outside of Columbus, went into cardiac arrest on 2 September 2019.

On the 911 call recording, obtained by the Guardian, the operator directed an Amazon employee through finding and using an automated external defibrillator (AED) on Foister, who was unresponsive to CPR. Emergency services responded to the call in under six minutes.

After the incident, everyone was forced to go back to work. No time to decompress. Basically watch a man pass away and then get told to go back to work, everyone, and act like its fine, said another Amazon worker on the shift.

Billy Foister was taken to a hospital, where Edward was immediately told that his brother had passed away after efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.

Edward noted that a week earlier, his brother had gone to the warehouses AmCare clinic and reported headaches and chest pains. According to Foister, his brother had his blood pressure taken and was told he was dehydrated, given two beverages to drink, and sent back to work.

There was no reason for my brother to have died. He went to AmCare complaining about chest pains. He should have been sent to the hospital, not just sent back to work just to put things like toothpaste in a bin so somebody can get it in an hour, Edward said. It seems Amazon values money way more than life. If they did their job right, I wouldnt have had to bury my little brother.

Amazon denied that Billy Foister died at the warehouse and said he was treated within minutes.
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A similar incident occurred at the Etna fulfillment center in March 2019, where a picker, Joe Bowman, died after going into cardiac arrest. According to 911 call records, a 60-year-old picker went into cardiac arrest on the job on 20 March 2019 and was found unconscious.

Go back to work, the supervisor who reported the incident to 911 personnel told another concerned worker while on the phone with theoperator.

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geez, amazon's worse than walmart
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JFC
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They probably fired him before he got to the hospital.
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I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.
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Gamerguymass posted...

I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.

And these people are in their late forties, fifties.

That said they (Amazon) have to do better than this. That warehouse has way too many problems.

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CE should be forbidden for shitting up the world any more than it already is by reminding everyone what a shithole it actually is.
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Seems like they havent learned from their previous warehouse deaths.
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Smashingpmkns posted...

Seems like they havent been made to learn from their previous warehouse deaths.

fixed
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Gamerguymass posted...

I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.

Because a job is better than no job. This is the mentality that facilitates so many thousands of jobs for illegal immigrants.

Some people dont have that luxury of being selective.

I've worked jobs where it would've been a lot longer than that.
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It seems Amazon values money way more than life.

Welcome to capitalism.
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You guys buy from Amazon so shut the fuck up.
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Yea, factor life has been like this for a long time. Its hard work.

Stories like these remind me of the Jungle (book). Its a hard knock life. It is what it is.

I have no doubt democrats would work to improve these conditions but unfortunately, republicans are in charge and they would prefer billionaires get richer rather than the common man have some non-savage working conditions.

Let's see what Amazon may do is start having an age limit on their floor operatives in light of things like this
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tremain07 posted...

Let's see what Amazon may do is start having an age limit on their floor operatives in light of things like this

I dont think they can do that. Regardless, younger employees have also complained about the work conditions.
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Antifar posted...

A couple of days before, he put the wrong product in the wrong bin and within two minutes management saw it on camera and came down to talk to him about it

Antifar posted...

Billy had lain on the floor for 20 minutes before receiving treatment

i know this was put in for dramatic effect but a company that notices when you misplace an item and responds immediately would probably also have an issue with a person who's stopped working for 20 minutes

something tells me we're not getting the full story here

brestugo posted...

They probably fired him before he got to the hospital.

I feel so bad for laughing at this.

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Gamerguymass posted...

I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.

Having a job better than not having one.
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Gamerguymass posted...

I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.

high wages

How is it Amazon's fault if no one saw him for 20 minutes? It doesn't say he was being ignored. As soon as someone saw him, they called for help.
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Gamerguymass posted...

I don't understand why anyone would willingly choose to work in an Amazon warehouse.

They pay well, hire anyone without an interview, and bring lots of jobs to otherwise struggling towns. Not hard to see the appeal, monstrous as they are
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tremain07 posted...

Let's see what Amazon may do is start having an age limit on their floor operatives in light of things like this

Maybe amazon shouldn't run their warehouses like third world sweat shops.
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The Admiral posted...

How is it Amazon's fault if no one saw him for 20 minutes? It doesn't say he was being ignored. As soon as someone saw him, they called for help.

the article literally says he got a talking to within 2 minutes of putting a product in the wrong bin

and yet it took them 20 minutes to notice him not moving

Shut the fuck up

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The Admiral posted...

How is it Amazon's fault if no one saw him for 20 minutes? It doesn't say he was being ignored. As soon as someone saw him, they called for help.

:/

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Paper_Okami posted...

The Admiral posted...

How is it Amazon's fault if no one saw him for 20 minutes? It doesn't say he was being ignored. As soon as someone saw him, they called for help.

the article literally says he got a talking to within 2 minutes of putting a product in the wrong bin

and yet it took them 20 minutes to notice him not moving

Shut the fuck up

I will say that the computer wouldve flagged the wrong bin, not a camera, but they wouldve seen him idle in the system and they are supposed to have people constantly monitoring the cameras (for theft, safety, etc)
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Sounds like there was nothing that could be done. He wouldn't be any less dead if someone had seen him in 20 seconds.
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Paper_Okami posted...

The Admiral posted...

How is it Amazon's fault if no one saw him for 20 minutes? It doesn't say he was being ignored. As soon as someone saw him, they called for help.

the article literally says he got a talking to within 2 minutes of putting a product in the wrong bin

and yet it took them 20 minutes to notice him not moving

Shut the fuck up

Those two incidents were on completely separate days. He was noticed because he misplaced an item, because thats what the system is designed to do. Its not designed to track their every movement. They track the items.
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Imagine defending this
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I doubt they did this intentionally. Probably just an honest mistake.