A shocking new report has revealed some of the conditions inside the warehouses used by retail giant Amazon and they're so bad, many supervisors have needed to call 911 after their workers threatened to commit suicide.
According to an article published in the Daily Beast on Monday, between October 2013 and October 2018, authorities responded to over 180 calls for "suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts" and other mental-health emergencies. And that's just the ones the Daily Beast found.
The Daily Beast provided transcripts from some of the calls 911 operators received over the years.
Operator: Lebanon Police and Fire. Where’s your emergency?
Caller: Hi, I’m at 500 Duke Drive in Lebanon, so it’s the Amazon building. I’ve got an associate threatening suicide, she has very specific plans and has shown scratches more than anything on her arms but she’s trying to leave the building. She needs medical help, we can’t keep her here.
Operator: Police dispatch
Caller: Yes, hi, I wanted to see if we could get an officer out to the Amazon facility. I have an associate who had written a suicide letter to her children that was discovered on her today.
Caller: Hey this is Chris, loss prevention Amazon. How you doing?
Operator: Good how are you?
Caller: Not too bad, I need EMS to start our way please. I have a suicidal employee in one of our offices, he attempted to cut himself three or four times tonight. And he is willing to go with EMS.
Operator: OK, what did he attempt to cut himself with?
Caller: One of our safety box cutters.
Warning: Audio contained within contains threats of suicide, and suicidal idealization.
Conditions at the 46 warehouses Amazon operates across the country have long been documented as inhuman. Between an ultra-competitive workplace culture, to stories about employees being treated like robots, article after article has depicted working at an Amazon warehouse as less-than-desirable. Amazon, which was founded by the richest man in the world, has faced criticism for its brutal working conditions at its warehouses.
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