An Amazon employee at a warehouse in Troutdale, Oregon, died on the job last week, a company spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch.
According to the news Western edgeAn independent investigative body covering the Pacific Northwest region, a worker fell to the ground in warehouse PDX9 and died as workers continued to work around him.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of a member of our team, and our thoughts and deepest sympathies go out to their loved ones during this difficult time,” Amazon spokesman Sam Stevenson told TechCrunch. “We have reached out to his family and are providing resources to support them. We have provided on-site grief counselors and additional support for staff at our PDX9 facility. We are grateful for the work of the Multnomah County Sherriff’s Department and local emergency medical services.”
a Reddit forum For Amazon fulfillment center workers, several people who claimed to work at PDX9 said the building was particularly hot after soundproof curtains were installed to restrict airflow. They hypothesized that the heat may have contributed to the worker’s death because it exacerbated the physical demands of the fulfillment center job. According to Western Edge, some workers found the building cooler when they returned to work the next day.
But Amazon said the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) determined the incident was not work-related. Workers were sent home early and paid for the rest of the shift; According to the company, the night shift was canceled and the employees who were scheduled to work were paid.
The PDX9 stock has a reputation for having hard working conditions; A study in 2018 to discoverInvestigative Journalism found that 26% of warehouse workers were injured. A report Based on 2024 OSHA data, the company’s enforcement centers reported serious injuries at twice the rate of the warehouse industry average.
Amazon’s fulfillment centers have been the subject of several investigations by federal agencies and prosecutors over warehouse security, and investigators have said the company manipulated data and failed to properly document workplace injuries. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is investigating ongoing investigation To workplace safety in Amazon warehouses.
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Amazon told TechCrunch that the company a 43% reduction Since 2019, the global recordable incident rate — a metric that tracks any work-related injury that requires more than basic first aid. The company said it has invested more than $2.5 billion in security improvements since 2019, including hundreds of millions of dollars in 2026 alone.
