I mean I get that they were at work. Shift change or whatever does not seem to make that big a difference. What's not clear to me is whether any of the workers were coerced to come in (i.e. they said they didn't want to and Amazon said they must regardless). And whether Amazon knew or ought to know that this would unacceptably increase the risk of harm (i.e. that a tornado was in fact likely and that being at work was much more dangerous than wherever else the workers might be).

I would also be interested in the standard practice at other workplaces in tornado alley. St Louis area gets four tornados a year on average, plus some additional number of warnings that don't end up being tornados. Is it the standard practice of workplaces to shut down in such situations? I don't remember tornado warnings being that big of a deal when I lived there but admittedly I was a dumb college kid at the time so what did I know.

I guess my point is that allegations of wrongdoing would seem to be very slightly jumping the gun in this situation. Plays well to a certain audience but there will be plenty of time for finger pointing once we know more.

>>I would also be interested in the standard practice at other workplaces in tornado alley

For my Employer, in a high tornado state..

Watch: Monitor but no change in business

Warning: Equipment is shut down, employee move to interior rooms approved as "shelters" (i.e no windows, normally slightly reinforced, etc), until the warning is cleared, or confirmation of the tornado's path as no chance of hitting facility.

I have seen other ask the question of "why was the facility open during the warning", questions like that show an extreme ignorance of how tornado's work, and warnings are issued, Warnings are normally short lived events not hours or days long. Warnings last like 15-30mins... Another problem with warnings is many of them have no actual tornado attached to them.

It is clear a large amount of the user base has never lived in a high tornado state, I have my entire life.

I also live in a tornado-prone state and agree with all of this. In my experience, nothing at all shuts down in the event of a tornado watch - everything is business as usual (schools, businesses, retail, etc.). Outdoor activities might be cancelled, but even that wouldn't be a given. As said, tornado warnings are short-lived and you just shelter in place wherever you happen to be. I've been crammed in a bathroom with 30-40 other people at my cushy 9-5 office job many times due to tornado warnings. The thought has never even crossed my mind about not going into work during a tornado watch.

It's mind-boggling how many people are spouting away here who clearly have no understanding of how tornados work. Didn't anyone ever watch Twister?

Active tornado warnings happen here all the time - most people ignore the sirens and keep wandering around.

Now if the warehouse didn’t have designated tornado shelters …