After a tornado devastated its facility last week, Amazon.com is contemplating a cell phone ban in its warehouses. This, coupled with the emergence of new covid strain, has forced a rethink after the ban was relaxed earlier.
Amazon had a policy that prohibited the employees from carrying their cell phones on the warehouse floors and required them to leave the phones behind in lockers near break rooms or their vehicles. The rules were relaxed during the pandemic temporarily and were scheduled to resume again in January 2022, as per documents seen by Bloomberg. According to a source familiar with the situation, Amazon’s thinking on this matter is fluid.
The current policy allows all Amazon employees, including delivery drivers, to access their cell phones during their shifts. As per workers, managers in several states have already resumed the ban.
According to one person whose job is to train new hires, some managers are checking whether the ban will cause a spike in absenteeism or complaints from employees. The people said this on anonymity as they are not authorized to speak to the media.
The Illinois warehouse facility, which collapsed during the tornado, has increased the concern among the blue collared workers about the resumption of cell phone bans in work areas. The warehouse was destroyed to rubble when the tornado ripped through six states leaving behind destructions that stretched more than 200 miles.
Five employees, including two who worked in the facility that collapsed, said they wanted to be updated about weather reports through their cell phones without interference from the company. According to them, the phone can help communicate with family or emergency responders if they are trapped.
Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman at Amazon, released a statement saying that the company was saddened by the deaths of some employees as a result of the storm in Edwardsville, Illinois, and thanked the responders in the efforts in the affected area.
