Amazon is reportedly planning to construct a new warehouse for dangerous products

[Polycount]

To increase safety after a nasty incident which hospitalized 24 of its warehouse workers last year, Amazon has made the decision to build an entirely new warehouse to hold the more risky products in its line-up. This includes chemicals and flammable materials, to name a couple examples.

According to Wired, the warehouse will be 500,000 square feet in size, and it will be the first fulfillment center of this nature to be built by the retail giant -- except for an 80,000 square foot "test site" which was constructed in Virginia during 2018.

As Amazon vice president of health Carletta Ooton told Wired in a statement, the facility will feature technology specifically designed to help employees "handle consumer goods that could be a health hazard."

While we don't know precisely what form that tech will take, we do know that the warehouse will also feature a "special sprinkler system," which will be triggered should a hazardous product catch fire. As another safety measure, robots won't be allowed to handle said products.

The warehouse is set to begin operation as soon as this summer. Storing certain products in a completely separate place will undoubtedly bog down shipping a bit for combined orders (some customers prefer to get an entire order in one delivery), the benefits will likely be worth it to Amazon -- at the very least, the warehouse could help them avoid any further safety-related PR disasters.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/80131-amazon-reportedly-planning-construct-new-warehouse-dangerous-products.html

 

[Jeff Re]

What could go wrong???

 

[Lew Zealand]

"As another safety measure, robots won't be allowed to handle said products."

Wait, what?

Isn't the point of using robots to do jobs that are dangerous to people? This is exactly the type of warehouse that should be using robots. So basically AMZ is admitting that their robots aren't safe.

 

[Godel]

Will the warehouse be located in an area with lots of poor people?

 

[Uncle Al]

In other words, the next fire is going to be a REAL BARN BURNER! Don't forget to stock up on marshmallows!!!

 

[seeprime]

I hope they put it in a cold climate as that will prevent many of the chemicals from being stored at or above their flash point. For example, the flash point of isopropyl alcohol is 68 degrees F. Any spark hitting the liquid will set it on fire at or above that temperature. Keeping it cool will also keep the pressure in containers of volatiles a bit lower and safer.

 

[Dimitrios]

Uh why are the workers wearing sneakers? Wine warehouse at Hartley&Parker makes you wear boots and if you don't you get sent home.

 

[Capaill]

"As another safety measure, robots won't be allowed to handle said products."

Wait, what?

Isn't the point of using robots to do jobs that are dangerous to people? This is exactly the type of warehouse that should be using robots. So basically AMZ is admitting that their robots aren't safe.

Some very strange decisions here. Also a lot of those sprinkler systems are usually hazardous to humans.

Then again, I think Amazon did say they would lose employees by attrition and replace them with robots. So I guess they can do that by putting the humans to work in the dangerous products warehouse!