‘Everyone is Replaceable’: Death Rattles Oregon Amazon Facility : aboringdystopia

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 29 points 5 days ago (1 children)

OMFG

For more than an hour, several employees said, workers in the facility were instructed to continue fetching totes, picking items off shelves and loading them onto trucks for delivery as the man lay dead, and management figured out their next steps. Within moments of the man hitting the floor, Sam said a woman ran over and began performing chest compressions. The woman began to cry and screamed out for someone to help her.

…

Sam, who has CPR training, asked her supervisor if she could assist. The supervisor watched the woman heaving her weight into the man’s chest and gave no response.

“I start sobbing and said, ‘I want to help, please!’ I know she’s going to get tired and need to be subbed out,” Sam told The Western Edge.

The supervisor, who Sam perceived to be in shock, had a simple reply: “It has to be management or safety team. Please get back to work.”

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 18 points 4 days ago (1 children)

This is the inevitable result of corporate cowardice. Idiots in middle to upper management positions try to make it against company policy to make any decision at a lower level than their own because they don't want the company to be liable for anything done by someone who hasn't passed through the magical jump hoops of college, business school, and local corporate indoctrination, but while it helps prevent a lawsuit in 1 in 1,000,000 situations, it makes everything worse for the other 999,999.

[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 7 points 4 days ago (2 children)

My workplace has a similar rule about CPR or medical emergencies. It has to be supervisors or the official first aid team members IF POSSIBLE. 1. Because we know all of the first aid training for those people is current. 2. Its traumatising for people to perform CPR especially if its ineffective. And we are to encourage staff to return to their duties or at very least advise staff to clear the area and give them some privacy because if you arent actively helping (Which this person was) you're just gawking and you need to fuck off.

Could very well be common sense rules that have been misinterpreted by an idiot.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 5 points 4 days ago (1 children)

If someone needs CPR, all that goes out the window. If someone has watched a tiktok vid that gives them the basic knowledge to say 'this guy's not breathing. I'm going to try to help him,' any policy that says 'no' is idiotic. CPR is so ineffective already, worrying about how recently trained people are is a gross distortion of priorities. If they need CPR, it'd be nigh impossible to make their day worse. Same goes for worrying about the trauma of performing CPR where it doesn't actually save the person, which is the vast majority of cases. It's going to be traumatic no matter what if your coworker is dying, but the idea that you're going to prioritize the possible emotional trauma of the basically healthy individual over the literal life and death situation of their coworker is a wild way to triage that scene.

It's all just liability dodging. If only the managers/safety people are supposed to do it, the company can't be sued for 'letting' untrained personnel help. If the policy says 'don't help' the company can't be held liable for the workplace mental injury of the trauma of helping. Telling people who aren't helping to keep the area clear is sensible, though.

[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Its definitely liability related but my point was that good policies can be interpreted poorly.

The company has people it KNOWS are first aid trained and they were trained recently. Letting someone who claims to know take precedence over someone who definitely does would be bad policy, switching out for someone who is documented as trained asap is good policy. First aiders need to sign waivers and forms saying they accept the risks and responsibilities, which limits the liability of the company if Bob doesnt make it or Bob had hepatitis. Standard corporate BS but sensible policy.

Some idiot interprets the policy poorly, reads it as "have the person relived by first aiders only" and refuses to let anyone else help.

[–] Sunsofold@lemmings.world 1 points 4 days ago

Again, that all goes out the window in the case of an actual emergency. The person needs help. In NO case should corporate liability dodging be the reason someone doesn't get help, regardless of the precise wording of the policy. A policy that can be readily misinterpreted as 'authorized responders only' is a bad policy. A policy that places further limitations on the already minimal number of people who could/would volunteer to help is a bad policy. A policy that makes people unsure of what to do is a bad policy. It's really that simple. Safety and survival trump company liability dodging every single time.

[–] RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 4 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I guess I can’t argue with your point about it being traumatizing to perform CPR

I guess I just have to point out. It is way more than traumatizing to need CPR and have someone decline to give it to you because it might be inconvenient.

[–] Delphia@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

My point was that good policies can be interpreted poorly.

The company has people it KNOWS are first aid trained and they were trained recently. Letting someone who claims to know take precedence over someone who definitely does would be bad policy, switching out for someone who is documented as trained asap is good policy. First aiders need to sign waivers and forms saying they accept the risks and responsibilities, which limits the liability of the company if Bob doesnt make it or Bob had hepatitis. Standard corporate BS but sensible policy.

Some idiot interprets the policy poorly as "have the person relived by first aiders only" and refuses to let anyone else help.

[–] faythofdragons@slrpnk.net 76 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (2 children)

Similar thing happened to my partner over a decade ago. He was working security at a casino, and a poker player keeled over at the table.

The ambulance wouldn't take the body, said they had to contact a private funeral home. The funeral home said they needed a coroner's permission, and the body wound up laying on the floor for several hours while it got sorted out.

They didn't shut down. They didn't even stop using the poker table he died at, people were still happily drinking and gambling with an uncovered body on the floor next to them.

Its fucked up.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 18 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Absolutely flabbergasted that ambulances wouldn't take the body but then again I remember that most ambulance services aren't public services and rather private entities providing the service. So, with that in mind, it makes a morbid sense that they wouldn't take the body of someone who couldn't pay the bill.

[–] NannerBanner@literature.cafe 14 points 5 days ago (2 children)

No, that's actually a thing, private or public. We treat at the scene, unless there is a need to get to the ER for something that we can't do. CPR, as an example, is pretty much the exact same thing when a paramedic is conducting it at a scene and in the ER. You might have some more people around, but the drugs being given and the device used to deliver shocks are exactly the same.* We have 'standing orders' for termination of cpr depending on how things are going (20 minutes and 30 minutes, respectively, for our agency), and we wouldn't be transporting the body afterwards.

This is also how it is in cases of obvious, unattended death. The cops get called, they call us, we throw electrodes on and print a flatline for the cops, and leave (the cops then wait for the coroner/medical examiner [medical examiners are fancier and only the big cities have them] who then leaves and the cops call [well, they should have already called] the mortuary/funeral home and then they take the body).

The point is, the hospitals don't want a dead body to deal with, so unless the person is alive or close enough to alive (I've transported 'corpses' that are having blood pumped by machines for organ harvesting purposes, it's really weird/unsettling the first few times) that they're still kicking, the ambulances don't transport. Looking at it from another point of view, we have live patients waiting on us to come, why would we waste our time transporting a dead one to a funeral home?

*not even kidding; the monitors on the back of the stretcher are often THE EXACT SAME as the ones hanging in the trauma room of the ER.

[–] LowtierComputer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

It definitely depends on the state/region. I've worked in two places where the local hospital is always the recipient. One of the places the coroner and cops didn't even have to show up if they didn't want to. We'd just pronounce dead and transport.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I'm well aware. I am EMT trained.

Like, I know society is what it is right now and the immediate justifications but it still feels like a gigantic social failing of our social structures.

I think my criticism lies in the fact that funerary services are a private industry separate from healthcare services such as ambulance, rather than with the ambulance services as I previously misstated.

Like it necessitates what you described where the incentive is to just abandon the corpse instead of taking it back to a morgue at the hospital and taken care of from there but, no, the corpse is to be abandoned until some other industry is able to be arranged.

[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Can you guys pronounce dead? In Canada they will do CPR until they get to the hospital and ER physician will pronounce death.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 2 points 5 days ago

I only managed to become EMT-Basic. I believe you have to be an EMT-Paramedic to be able to pronounce dead on scene but don't quote me. Never got to do much with the training as I developed neuropathy and began to have issues with my hands, so I didn't pursue it for a career.

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 9 points 5 days ago

What. The. Fuck

[–] kat_angstrom@lemmy.world 79 points 6 days ago

Dehumanization is the point. The more people don't stop to look at tragedies, the more they won't question how such tragedies could have happened in the first place.

[–] ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world 44 points 6 days ago (1 children)

If you read the whole conversation, you will become ill. It reads like an unbelievable dystopian novel.

[–] Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net 21 points 5 days ago

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 45 points 6 days ago

“Just turn around and not look. Let’s get back to work,” Sam recalled the manager saying.

[–] Agent641@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I hope this didn't happen at one of those flammable warehouses

[–] T00l_shed@lemmy.world 6 points 4 days ago

All warehouses are flammable with enough accelerant

[–] Philharmonic3@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Management gotta go.

[–] OldQWERTYbastard@lemmy.world 5 points 4 days ago

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

I haven't logged into my account at Amazon for almost ten years.

It's a horrible company, and we're continually reminded of that by stories like this one. But, people keep shopping there in spite of there being plenty of alternatives. And, they'll make many excuses to do so.

[–] FatVegan@leminal.space 1 points 4 days ago

I used to use my amazon account to search a product, look at reviews and alternatives and then order somewhere else. Even that is now borderline unusable

[–] Maeve@kbin.earth 22 points 5 days ago

As I said elsewhere, recently, "I live in a clown town in a clown state in a clown nation of morally and financially bankrupt degenerates."

[–] Hayduke@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago

“Truthfully, I now have even less respect for our leadership team than I did before, which I didn’t know was possible,” RJ said.

[–] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 21 points 6 days ago

Sam's manger needs to be locked up in a jail cell, long with rest of management. I would of ignored my manager and gone to help. What fuck! In all the years I did warehouse I only had one worker who died on the job. My side was no where near where it happen. Hell we were in a building across the street. They still had us all stop working until ambulance came and took the worker away.

[–] grimpy@lemmy.myserv.one 17 points 5 days ago

time to replace Bezos the Clown with AI

[–] bookmeat@fedinsfw.app 20 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Why would you even ask permission from your boss for anything like this? Fuck your boss. Where's your agency, slave?

[–] Drusas@fedia.io 18 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It's super bizarre to me that anyone would even think to ask for permission to perform CPR.

[–] LowtierComputer@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

If you're barely scraping by and it's the only job in the area, especially if you have dependents, you might think about it.

[–] architect@thelemmy.club 0 points 5 days ago

Boss daddy.

[–] Eternal192@anarchist.nexus 15 points 6 days ago

The population must be desensitized in order to make way for a dystopian society, that's why assholes get managing positions, because they will always put the company and profits first, then everything else and then the people if they even bother to at least put personnel on the bottom of their priorities.

[–] IAmYouButYouDontKnowYet@reddthat.com 15 points 6 days ago

It's like a smaller scaled American Culture.

A Boring Dystopia