Amazon's warehouse workers sound alarms about coronavirus spread

[bluewater]

Source: Washington Post

As Amazon sales surge from shoppers stocking up on consumer staples, the e-commerce giant’s warehouse workers are raising alarms that the company is not doing enough to protect them from the novel coronavirus.
Warehouse workers in Spain and Italy have tested positive for the virus, while workers in New York and Chicago told The Washington Post that Amazon isn’t taking enough precautions as orders mount. Some said workers were sent home only after they had coughs, and signs were posted advising workers to wash their hands.

But in interviews, warehouse workers in the United States and Europe say they worry their workplaces aren’t safe enough and could contribute to the spread of the virus. More than 1,500 workers from around the world have signed a petition that calls on the company to take additional steps to ensure the safety in their workplace.
...

“We are going to great lengths to keep the buildings extremely clean and help employees practice important precautions such as social distancing and other measures,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman said. “Those who don’t want to come to work are welcome to use paid and unpaid time off options and we support them in doing so.”

Any disruption to Amazon’s ability to deliver goods could affect countless customers, who have turned to the company in recent days to bring canned food, cleaning supplies and more to their homes so they don’t need to venture out to physical retailers and potentially spread the virus. Shoppers have turned to Amazon so frequently since the outbreak of the virus that the company has acknowledged it’s out of stock of some household staples, and its deliveries are taking longer than usual.

It may not just be workers’ safety at stake. Recent research shows the coronavirus can potentially remain viable — capable of infecting a person — for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel, though covid-19 has primarily spread through direct person-to-person contact.


Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/17/amazons-warehouse-workers-sound-alarms-about-coronavirus-spread/

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It may not just be workers’ safety at stake. Recent research shows the coronavirus can potentially remain viable — capable of infecting a person — for up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel, though covid-19 has primarily spread through direct person-to-person contact.

Taking precautions when handling packaging seems in order. Especially when the virus spreads to a larger % of the population.

As an older person doing strict social distancing, the possibility of the virus spreading thru Amazon deliveries has been a concern.

[TheFourthMind]

1. And they're looking to add 100,000 more expendable workers to the equation. n/t

[NotHardly]

13. Sounds about right...billionaires think we are all expendable in their fevered 'bootstrap' dreams

The poors on the working floors of companies risking their health and lives while the multi-millionaires and billionaires complain about us wanting to take bathroom breaks, meal breaks, and not working fast enough as they yell from their protected vaults.

[Delphinus]

18. Sadly true.

[Ghost Dog]

34. The expendable...

might just, and justly, end up, this time, eating the rich.

[JohnnyRingo]

2. So if Amazon workers have Covid-19....

Does that mean we can all get it by Thursday if we order in the next two hours?

[HeartlandProgressive]

3. Funny. Dark, very dark... but still funny.

[riversedge]

8. Probably not by Thrusday. Maybe the next day as the virus would

prob. have to incubate a bit.

[catsudon]

15. only

for amazon prime members

[LuvNewcastle]

24. Yes, you've got to pay for the privilege.

[bubbazero]

22. Interesting twist on "NEXT DAY AIR"

[Igel]

29. Only if you've signed up for Amazon's COVID-Prime.

Otherwise you get free shipping that takes 6-9 days, by which time your virus will be past peak freshness.

[Mike 03]

4. I placed an order last week. I'm carefully opening the box with a knife and setting the contents

out in a room and just leaving them to sit for a day or two. I throw the box and packaging materials away and wash my hands. Then sometimes I wipe down the objects (mostly plastic bottles/nutritional supplements) and put them away and wash my hands again.

[IronLionZion]

5. What's weirder is I've gotten emails from Italian and Spanish companies

that I've bought from in the past. And they are encouraging online shopping from them and offering discounts since everyone is at home. Postal delivery people could get it and spread it. I'm trying to avoid online shopping despite the urge/convenience. I'll just do without some things for a while and see how it goes.

[LibinMo]

21. I'm doing the same with all deliveries and my mail as well

I ordered a copy of The Stand from Amazon to reread. It came yesterday (not in shrink wrap) I wiped it down and put it with the rest of my quarantined mail. Can't wait to start reading it.

[totodeinhere]

6. I'm concerned about the workers and I'm also wondering about how safe their packaging might be.

We hear that the virus can live on surfaces for some time so could recipients of Amazon packages be exposed to the virus?

[bucolic_frolic]

7. Any reason I shouldn't disinfect anything that comes into the house from outside?

I have a protocol for store bought goods. Everything is handled somewhere along the line.

[McKim]

9. Everything Sanitized

Everything that comes into the house is sanitized in the kitchen sink, rinsed and dried in the sun.
Amazon packages are plastic. I just wash them as a matter of course and the contents too. It is a compulsive pain but I am getting used to the routine, including daily bleaching of kitchen, knobs, doorknobs, banisters, light switches, phones, computers, desk surfaces, handrails, applicants, fridge. It takes about a half hour a day but worth it.

[MLAA]

11. That is what I am doing as well.

Clorox wipe everything including husband if he stands still for too long!

[Delphinus]

19. You were lucky

to get Clorox wipes!

[MLAA]

25. I had picked up a super pack at Costco last fall.

I just checked their website, and indeed they also are out. Do you have any bleach you could use?

[Delphinus]

26. Yes, thanks.

I have found some substitutes to get us through - and we are pretty much self-isolating. We go to work and I go to the grocery store.

[LisaL]

10. I am just going to lysol spray it.

[AtheistCrusader]

12. When I receive a package, I kick it into the garage, cut the top open with a knife just for that,

pull the individual items out, wash my hands, come back, open the individual items, wash again, and then grab the contents.

Stuff INSIDE the individual product packages have been packed for potentially months, but the packages were handled when placed in the shipping box, and the shipping box was handled a lot.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

14. I have read that the virus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours...

Last edited Tue Mar 17, 2020, 03:14 PM - Edit history (1)

...and on stainless steel for days.

[orleans]

23. longer on cardboard

https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/03/coronavirus-update-virus-could-live-up-to-24-hours-on-cardboard-3-days-on-plastic-and-steel-study-says.html

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

28. Thanks, I'll update

I believe that with a very few exceptions, the less porous the surface the longer the virus can live.

[rustysgurl]

16. My son works for UPS ...

He is a specialist who oversees and maintains the high speed automated sort facility at the main UPS hub near us. To say he is surrounded by Amazon (and other) packaging is an understatement. Supposedly, the only people touching packages are those unloading and loading trucks -- everything else is "hands free." I asked him what UPS was doing to ensure the safety of its workforce and customers to whom they deliver. Crickets.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. If you are worried, skip the instant gratification and don't open it for 3 days. . . . nt

[bluewater]

27. That's good advice if you have a storage area for the packages.

A garage or even a closet.

[truthisfreedom]

20. I have a can of pure ethyl alcohol (denatured) from the hardware store.

It’s available from the paint department. I put on nitrile gloves to cut open my packages on the deck, then leave the packaging outside and wipe down everything with the alcohol before bringing it inside. The packaging sits out in the sun for a day or two until I toss it in the back of my truck to head to recycling. I take no chances.

[eilen]

30. I don't do any of that. It had not occurred to me.

What has occurred to me is that it is not a matter of if but when we get virus and honestly, I'd rather get it sooner than later, at least while there are resources available.

[HotTeaBag]

35. I've been thinking/saying the same thing

I was working in NYC until last week when we all got sent home, and I just figured there was no way I wasn't going to get it one way or the other based on the sheer amount of people you have to come in contact with just to get to and from work each day, and then quarantine myself until I (hopefully) got better.

[Igel]

31. Much of that is true for everything.

Fortunately, transmission through skin hasn't been shown to be an issue.

Pick up what you need to. Put it down. Just don't rub your eyes or, especially suck on your thumb or pick your nose until you've washed your hands. (And then, afterwards, please wash your hands again before picking up anything that's going to be shipped.)

The real issue is person-to-person transmission, and apart from daily testing of everybody (which means that for most of your duty time you're sitting there waiting for the lab results ... which may take 48 hours) the best you can do is send home those with symptoms and take precautions like face masks, nitrile gloves, making sure the place has appropriate air flow and there's sufficient distance between workers. Oh--and liberally expose things to a lot of UV light (since that's going to do less damage to most stuff than spraying it with alcohol--in the case of cardboard, a light spray might well not be enough because the alcohol would be wicked away from the surface so quickly.)

However, if you eat, if you're using electricity or water, if you're using any service or go out to do anything that requires an employee be on duty, you're asking somebody else to take the exact same risks. We seem to be concerned about what comes into our houses, the risks that we are exposed to, and concerned for specific people brought to our attention, but in fact *everybody* who's on the job with anybody else is running a risk for others.


You minimize your risk. I have to go to the pharmacy and get some other things today or tomorrow. Those transactions won't be risk free for me, nor for the employees. And again, the employees will have to interact with each other. You do what you can. Life isn't zero risk.

[Hekate]

32. Wish I'd read this before deciding to take the groceries out of plastic bags (wiped the bags first)

...to put them into household Tupperware.

The canned goods can stay where they are for a couple of days.

[MoonlitKnight]

33. Just treat everything like it's raw chicken

Avoid cross contamination.

[MineralMan]

36. I am wiping down all cardboard boxes delivered to our house with a chlorine bleach

solution, and am not opening them for 24 hours. Then, I wipe down the boxes inside and leave them for another 24, before opening them. If I must open and use products right away, I use an alcohol-based wipe-down process.

This is not foolproof, but it's about the best I can come up with.

[RealityChik]

37. We've been opening the packages outside

With gloves on. Removing contents with second pair and wiping contents packaging (cuz everything seems to come sealed in plastic these days) with rubbing alcohol, and leave the original boxes outside or in the shed for at least 3 days before cutting them up for recycling.