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A few cubes away from me one of our guys put his head down on his arms on his work surface. No one noticed, but he died. The guys holding a meeting in the cube

A few cubes away from me one of our guys put his head down on his arms on his work surface. No one noticed, but he died. The guys holding a meeting in the cube across the aisle from him felt bad about it, but they thought he was taking a nap. Any large employer will have people die on the job.

x3ro 7y ago
The article makes it quite clear that this is not about people dying like you mentioned, but about delayed medical attention in large Amazon facilities that result in potentially preventable fatalities.
- makomk 7y ago
  So basically it's about people dying like the guy described above, except that the Amazon employees didn't even technically die on the job because they were found relatively promptly and received medical care?
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    "fatalities" means "die". Yes, it's possible to sustain a person in a technically animated state for a few minutes after vital systems have crashed.
  - Cthulhu_ 7y ago
    20 minutes is not "relatively promptly".
- londons_explore 7y ago
  In a massive warehouse, I can completely imagine there are lots of places you could collapse and nobody find you for a while. Right now, in my home office, if I were to collapse, it would probably be a few hours till my wife or children found me. Presumably, the times when medical attention was given immediately aren't reported.
geogra4 7y ago
Was he old? was it a heart attack? I mean, just a random death? I think this has to be highly unusual at a desk job.
- DoreenMichele 7y ago
  It's actually common enough in Japan that they have a word for it. And if you start to type "Japanese word for dying..." you get auto suggestions of "of overwork" and "at your desk," among others. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-karoshi-japanese-word-for-death-by-overwork-2017-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-karoshi-japanese-wor... (Which I not commentary on the article under discussion per se. Please don't infer such.) (Edited for clarity.)
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    That because it's statistically improbable and interesting, not probable.
    - DoreenMichele 7y ago
      "Common enough to have a word for it" and "probable" are not synonyms.
- Merrill 7y ago
  Around 45 to 50 years old, systems administrator, who had a heart attack. Did some work in the server room, but nothing strenuous as far as I know. I've worked in a number of buildings with 4 to 7 K employees, and with that large a population, heart attacks and strokes happen. People also have mental breakdowns, although they are usually not dangerous. Smaller locations with 50 to 100 young employees probably never experience it.
PhasmaFelis 7y ago
An occasional random death at work is statistically inevitable. Six deaths in as many months is something else. A week before Billy Foister died of a heart attack, he went to the onsite clinic complaining of chest pains. They said he was dehydrated and told him to drink some water and go back to work. The article links to the NCOSH Dirty Dozen report, which describes a well-documented history of Amazon mistreating sick and injured employees. http://nationalcosh.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019_Dirty_Dozen.pdf http://nationalcosh.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019_Dir... Don't write this off as a series of unfortunate coincidences.
- tomatotomato37 7y ago
  Amazon has more employees than the state of Vermont's population, which last year had an average death rate of 500 per month. If anything this shows that working for Amazon is good for your health
  - lonelappde 7y ago
    Vermont has only 12 workplace deaths per year. Yes, being able and working at Amazon is better for your health than being 90years old with cancer.
  - ilikepi 7y ago
    Given that Vermont's population includes children, elderly, infirm, etc, it doesn't seem logical to draw conclusions from comparing the death rate of the two populations.
  - zepto 7y ago
    I didn’t realize Amazon hires the elderly and people in hospital.
    - krapp 7y ago
      Amazon will hire anyone who can pass a drug test and physically handle the work for at least a day.
corodra 7y ago
Okay, but no one is picking up on the fact that the misplaced item mentioned was viewed on camera and dealt with in single digit minute response. He collapsed on camera. 20+ minute response.

x3ro 7y ago

The article makes it quite clear that this is not about people dying like you mentioned, but about delayed medical attention in large Amazon facilities that result in potentially preventable fatalities.

makomk 7y ago
So basically it's about people dying like the guy described above, except that the Amazon employees didn't even technically die on the job because they were found relatively promptly and received medical care?
- lonelappde 7y ago
  "fatalities" means "die". Yes, it's possible to sustain a person in a technically animated state for a few minutes after vital systems have crashed.
- Cthulhu_ 7y ago
  20 minutes is not "relatively promptly".
londons_explore 7y ago
In a massive warehouse, I can completely imagine there are lots of places you could collapse and nobody find you for a while. Right now, in my home office, if I were to collapse, it would probably be a few hours till my wife or children found me. Presumably, the times when medical attention was given immediately aren't reported.

geogra4 7y ago

Was he old? was it a heart attack? I mean, just a random death? I think this has to be highly unusual at a desk job.

DoreenMichele 7y ago
It's actually common enough in Japan that they have a word for it. And if you start to type "Japanese word for dying..." you get auto suggestions of "of overwork" and "at your desk," among others. https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-karoshi-japanese-word-for-death-by-overwork-2017-10 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-karoshi-japanese-wor... (Which I not commentary on the article under discussion per se. Please don't infer such.) (Edited for clarity.)
- lonelappde 7y ago
  That because it's statistically improbable and interesting, not probable.
  - DoreenMichele 7y ago
    "Common enough to have a word for it" and "probable" are not synonyms.
Merrill 7y ago
Around 45 to 50 years old, systems administrator, who had a heart attack. Did some work in the server room, but nothing strenuous as far as I know. I've worked in a number of buildings with 4 to 7 K employees, and with that large a population, heart attacks and strokes happen. People also have mental breakdowns, although they are usually not dangerous. Smaller locations with 50 to 100 young employees probably never experience it.

PhasmaFelis 7y ago

An occasional random death at work is statistically inevitable. Six deaths in as many months is something else. A week before Billy Foister died of a heart attack, he went to the onsite clinic complaining of chest pains. They said he was dehydrated and told him to drink some water and go back to work. The article links to the NCOSH Dirty Dozen report, which describes a well-documented history of Amazon mistreating sick and injured employees. http://nationalcosh.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019_Dirty_Dozen.pdf http://nationalcosh.org/sites/default/files/uploads/2019_Dir... Don't write this off as a series of unfortunate coincidences.

tomatotomato37 7y ago
Amazon has more employees than the state of Vermont's population, which last year had an average death rate of 500 per month. If anything this shows that working for Amazon is good for your health
- lonelappde 7y ago
  Vermont has only 12 workplace deaths per year. Yes, being able and working at Amazon is better for your health than being 90years old with cancer.
- ilikepi 7y ago
  Given that Vermont's population includes children, elderly, infirm, etc, it doesn't seem logical to draw conclusions from comparing the death rate of the two populations.
- zepto 7y ago
  I didn’t realize Amazon hires the elderly and people in hospital.
  - krapp 7y ago
    Amazon will hire anyone who can pass a drug test and physically handle the work for at least a day.

corodra 7y ago

Okay, but no one is picking up on the fact that the misplaced item mentioned was viewed on camera and dealt with in single digit minute response. He collapsed on camera. 20+ minute response.