Pa. warehouse workers tell paper they endured cold

[midnight]

Source: AP News

A report says workers at an Amazon.com warehouse in Pennsylvania who were subjected to sweltering conditions last summer also say they endured frigid wintertime conditions a year ago.

The (Allentown) Morning Call (http://bit.ly/v55IFQ ) says workers at the warehouse in Breinigsville (BRINE'-igz-vuhl) required medical attention during three fire alarm evacuations in November and December 2010. Federal labor records say some were treated at hospitals for exposure after being outside in below-freezing temperatures.

Amazon says it has updated its procedures to re-enter the building more quickly after alarms and distributes hats, blankets and hand warmers.

The paper has reported that sweltering conditions inside the warehouse on several days this summer sent a few employees to hospitals, prompting a federal inspection.

Read more: http://www.nj.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/pa-warehouse-workers-tell-paper-they-endured/378956c64cc24932b5fabdf976e93909

---

Unions were destroyed in the private sector almost 30 years ago.... Now this is how some people work.... Next our public unions.... And it work take decades for many more of us to be working like this....

[alphafemale]

1. OMG...you mean warehouses are hot in the summer and cold in the winter!!!!!

WAREHOUSES???? The next thing you will tell me is that the climate is not controlled OUTSIDE for construction or road crew workers!

OH MY GAWD!!!

editted.

I mean seriously.

you expect warehouses to be climate controlled?

That's pretty much not possible.

[bloomington-lib]

3. If workers are going to the hospital due to extreme conditions adjustments have to be made

[alphafemale]

4. Warehouses CANNOT be climate controlled.

They never have been.

This is not a Union or Not thing.

Union workers in warehouses maybe got better paid.

But they knew that in the winter they better wear some long johns and gloves.

Because...

Warehouses CANNOT be climate controlled!

[bloomington-lib]

9. Calm down. I didn't say anything about climate control.

I said adjustments. Longer breaks in the hottest part of the day. Asking people if they'd rather take a night shift. Adding more fans. Shit, even a cooler full of cold towels to put on your neck. ad just ments

I've worked in several warehouses and now that you've mentioned it, they actually can be climate controlled. I worked once in a god-awful onion warehouse. They were stored right after being peeled and diced for a fast food chain. It was kept in the 40s. I'm not saying they need to keep the problem building cool like that, but it IS possible to control the temp.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

11. Fans cook people faster and make it worse.

Fans are like a convection oven. Cooks faster.

Fans make it worse in heat and humidity. You MUST take the water out of the air before there is any evaporative cooling. The high amount of water in the air means no evaporative cooling is taking place.
Also, the water in the air keeps the air from cooling down at night. It stays hot.

I grew up in Houston and many a night I could not sleep because the temperature was 86 or so and 100 humidity. It was brutal. You really can't make it in Houston without air conditioning. We had a couple of inadequate window units. Never had enough window units to cool the whole house. So about half the house was unusable for 6 months out of the year.

[plumbob]

12. I see you're in Georgia. Here's an air conditioned 267,000 sq ft warehouse

in Hattiesburg.

http://www.mississippipower.com/ecodev/bigyank.asp


Gotta be careful with big words like "never." They're usually wrong.

[alphafemale]

14. But that is not the usual giant steel building intended to keep the the rain off. Nothing more. nt

[plumbob]

24. No, it's a warehouse with climate control. Like you said was impossible.

Perhaps you need to get out more.

PS. I worked in a 200,000 sq ft steel building aka a warehouse distributing oilfield parts for most of a decade. It was air-conditioned to withstand the 110 degree summers we get here in west Texas. And that was in the 1970s. So I cheated - I had personal inside information.

[stockholmer]

20. what a foolish, inane statement, almost all major warehouses here in Sweden are climate controlled

grow up

:crazy:

[spinbaby]

23. Since when?

I work about a hundred feet from my company's distribution center--which is what modern warehouses are called--and it's totally climate controlled.

[Scuba]

26. Huh? I've been in climate controlled warehouses many times. n/t

[Thor_MN]

27. In a word, Bullshit.

Have you ever worked in a warehouse? I have. And while it was not as temperature controlled as the front office, it was temperature controlled.

[MicaelS]

28. Absolute rubbish

Warehouses CAN be climate controlled! And the proper modern term for such facilities as described in the OP is Distribution Center. The difference is between a Distribution Center and a Warehouse is that a Warehouse is for long term storage of items where there is little movement in or out. And Warehouse are climate controlled if the items are valuable.

What Amazon, and other big e-tailers and retailers run is a Distribution Center. DCs are predicated on rapid flow of products in and out. As such they have motorized conveyor systems for order picking and packing. And most have fluid loading systems that load directly into trailers for movement by road or rail.

I work in a DC (not Amazon) in Texas, so don't hand me any bullshit that DCs aren't climate controlled.

[ingac70]

29. Yeah, they can.

access to water and watching your employees is a good idea if a company doesn't want to spend money making the workplace more comfortable.

[Occulus]

30. I WORK in a climate-controlled warehouse.

Postal distribution center.

You are dead wrong.

[Mopar151]

32. Sez who?

Seriously - where does your info come from? HOW DO YOU THINK THEY STORE AND DISTRIBUTE FROZEN FOOD?

[TheMadMonk]

34. Wanna tell that to the cold store industry.

Wanna tell me that fully enclosed sports stadiums can't be climate controlled either.

OH and just for funsies, want to read (and comprehend) at the very least the COMPLETE text in the OP, if not the entirety of the referred material from which it was extracted?

Workers were taken to hospital as a result of exposure after fire alarms which don't permit people to detour through locker-rooms to pick up their outerwear. It's nearest exit and wait.

What you're really saying is that many warehousing outfits ONLY provide the minimal conditions needed for the propper storage of product, not proper and safe working conditions for employeees. And that you consider this to be normal and acceptable.

In the summer event(s) reported in other posts, a huge part of the problem is that Amazon keeps its warehouses locked down, (to prevent shrinkage they claimed) with completely inaddequate ventilation. Compounding that (until workers started dropping like flies) by refusing workers extra breaks for rehydration.

It is the employers resposiblity and legal obligation to provide safe working conditions, NOT the employees to make the accomodations necessary to compensate for an employer that fails to provide those conditions.


The pissing down people's backs and telling them it's raining queue is over at Free Republic mate.

[alfredo]

5. They need something like wind towers to cool warehouses.

They are used to good effect in Arab countries.

[Arctic Dave]

7. What century are you living in?

Warehouses can and have been tempurature controlled for over a century. We have huge warehouses in Alaska that are warm in the winter and cool in the summer. If they weren't all our food would go bad before it ever got to the market.

[alphafemale]

8. I'm sure you do have HUGE climate controlled warehouses.

[bloomington-lib]

13. Whats the problem with thinking climate controlled warehouse are fantasy

Here's are a bunch of pictures from google images of climate controlled warehouses. They do really exist



http://www.google.it/imgres?q=climate+controlled+warehouse&um=1&hl=en&safe=off&sa=N&biw=1252&bih=586&tbm=isch&tbnid=0xSBGYvgqDhw1M:&imgrefurl=http://www.dusiwinewarehouse.com/&docid=_91JOCPjeTPtNM&imgurl=&w=266&h=185&ei=kwW3Tu_FHsSf-waGs4w3&zoom=1

[roguevalley]

15. Jesus. What is our problem? People ended up in the hospital.

I have worked in sweltering plants that could be climate controlled if not for the cheap ass owners. Apparently suffering is fine with some. Not with me. You can bet your ass that the boss sits in a warm room. Fuck these fuckers.

RV, posting the 30,065th post of my checkered career here.

[Leontius]

18. I work in a climate controlled warehouse, so not possible is

not the correct answer.

[ret5hd]

19. Well, I guess we all see what a dumbass statement that was.

edited to "tone it down", 'cause i shouldn't talk like that.

[1monster]

21. Then how the heck are those huge warehouse stores like Sam's Club and Costco, among others

climate controled in Florida? They are every bit as big as a regular storage warehouse and ceilings are open to the steel roofs just as regular warehouses are.

It does cost money to climate control a warehouse, and that is probably the reason Amazon.com is having so much trouble keeping their warehouses from being so hot/cold that employees are suffering injury enough from the conditions as to require medical/hospitalization care.

[DRoseDARs]

22. Here, let me google that for you...

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=climate+controlled+warehouse

Next time you want to pontificate on what is and is not real or possible, don't.

[harmonicon]

25. So....

are you not responding to these comments because you're bed-ridden, as - a new scientific finding - being stupid hurts like hell, or because you're a right-wing shill who can't be bothered to bullshit your way out of arguing with the truth? Shocking as it may be, I am yet another person who's worked in climate controlled warehouses.

[hedgehog]

33. Amazon acknowledged that while facilities in hot parts of the

country like Arizona are air-conditioned, the Lehigh Valley warehouse that was the focus of the article was not.

“We haven’t historically had air conditioning in our east coast fulfillment centers. We’re in the process of adding air conditioning to additional FC’s so that we’re prepared in case what we saw this past summer becomes the new normal,” Amazon said Tuesday.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/amazon-com-responds-allegations-abused-employees-237902

[Warpy]

2. This sounds like a hasty evacuation when an alarm is pulled

and not freezing inside the warehouse. To be completely honest, it also sounds like the cooling system broke down last summer since the sweltering conditions are described as "days" rather than months.

I doubt a union would have been able to alleviate either condition.

In any case, having workers sent to the hospital for exposure to cold or heat stroke has prompted OSHA authorities to take a closer look and has already caused procedures to be rewritten and will likely cause them to upgrade the cooling system to one that is more reliable. Or they'll realize they don't need that kind of publicity and send people home if it conks out again.

However, all business should be unionized for other reasons.

[alp227]

6. So how's that free market executive-centered capitalism working out right there?

Next time you hear CONs complaining about unions, well...do capitalists REALLY have good in their hearts????

[Omaha Steve]

10. Ever stored chocolate in the summer in a warehouse that wasn't air conditioned?

OOPS! What if your products are temperature sensitive?

I know of several warehouses union and non in Omaha that are climate controlled.

K&R!

[bloomington-lib]

16. Basically, if the products(money) needs a particular environment it gets it no questions asked

If people need it, fuck em.

[Occupy_2012]

17. Climate Controlled Warehouses

I never realized warehouses with temperature control were so unusual. Warehouses store everything, from all kinds of foods, medical supplies, to delicate items that can be damaged by extreme heat like videotape or some electronic items. It's not safe to store even canned goods in a very hot warehouse for months on end. Heat damage can make canned goods expire long before their stamped expiration date. It's hard to believe that almost any item for sale can be stored without damage in an environment so extreme a human can't live in it safely.

I live in Las Vegas, the temperature can reach 110+ degrees in the summer for weeks on end. Even the public storage facilities are temperature controlled, because even books, paper and white linens will yellow due to heat damage. Paper will literally rot and start to crumble in just a few months in that heat, you can't leave important papers in your car in the summer if you don't want them to be ruined. Amazon just sounds cheap to me.

[Bosso 63]

31. Warehouse are like caves. You go in and the sun is gone.

I know some have skylights, but they're always over powered by the giant halogens. I understand how thats just the nature of the beast, but why, oh why is the break room always a windowless cell that seems to have been dropped in as an architectural after thought? No doubt there are exceptions out there, but that has always been my experience.