(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — An Illinois House committee is delving into the fatal Amazon warehouse collapse in Edwardsville.
Six workers died after a tornado struck the site in Southern Illinois on Dec. 10.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, said she knows where the committee should begin: with the people who died and the survivors who knew them.
"These were human lives that were lost -- sons, friends, daughters, and we don't forget that as we continue this work," she said Monday at a hearing. “It’s still pretty recent, and we all know that they’re all still grappling with it."
You have to follow the science, says Marc Levitan of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
“Tornadoes are much more frequent and impactful than are commonly understood,” he said.
The U.S. has more than 1,250 tornadoes each year — the ones that are reported, Levitan said.
Illinois AFL CIO president Tim Drea points a finger toward the big employers.
“Some of this is the lack of a union workforce at Amazon and other facilities like Amazon. But the low wages and few benefits create a situation where there is high turnover, and training is not done as well as it should [be],” he said.
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