The warnings for tornado touchdowns are minutes at best. Businesses don't shut down whenever there is a bad storm with the possibility of tornado. It happens way too frequently for that to be practical.
The point here was that employees who knew better didn't have an option to say, shit, it's not looking good, it's too risky to come to work / stay at work. And at least one person died because of that[2].
For the record, my partner used to live in Kansas, I've spent a fair amount of time there (years, months at a time). K-State campus, where she was working, was hit by a tornado during that time. I know what a tornado siren sounds like. My mother lives in Kentucky now; luckily, way North of where the damage was. I've spent about half of my adult life in Texas, driving through OK more times than I can remember on I-35.
I'm aware of the measures that can be taken to ensure safety in case of a tornado. Like, having a tornado shelter, or not cheaping out on construction. And perhaps allowing people to leave work early without punishing them if they feel scared enough.
As for warning time, Amazon got between 11 and 21 minutes of lead time[1]. Enough time to walk a mile, or drive 15.
Amazon then ordered people to stay at the facility[2], and directed them to "shelter in place" in bathrooms, where some of them met their death[1].
Specifically, the person in [2] clearly "had an idea about what weather even is", and had enough time to get home safely. He is dead now.
But hey, it's practical.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/amazon-driver-di...
[2] https://nypost.com/2021/12/12/amazon-worker-texted-girlfrien...
Tornado warnings don't have pinpoint accuracy. There is just high of a chance for tornado to touch down on your car on the road. Staying in an existing build's shelter absolutely is the right thing to do. No business/organizations send their employees out of the door when there is a tornado warning. THAT, would be corporate manslaughter.
It was not the "right thing to do" for someone who wanted to leave, couldn't because his job was on the line, and died as a result. There's no way to spin it.
>No business/organizations send their employees out of the door when there is a tornado warning. THAT, would be corporate manslaughter.
You're almost there! See, if forcefully kicking everyone out is manslaughter, then forcefully keeping people inside (threat of termination is a force for working people, you know) in a building that was absolutely not built to withstand such tornadoes (built for Amazon), and then directing people to go to "safe" places within the building that became their graves is . . .
Business is usual, you appear to think?
Just stop. Once Amazon puts the ball-and-chain of "do exactly as we say, or be fired" on people, they take responsibility for their livelihoods in case of an emergency.
The genuine thing to do there would be to tell everyone that they are off for the day the moment they got the tornado notice, that there's a tornado, and that Amazon asks everyone to follow safety procedures.
The fact that Amazon did not relieve their workers is what makes them murderers. These people were still on the clock. They died as employees, doing what their supervisors told them to do. By not telling their workers that they are free for the day, Amazon took responsibility for their lives.
The deaths of these people are on Amazon.