#candle factory

CANDLE IN THE WIND

An old abandoned candle factory is something you don't get to see very often. Especially one that has been abandoned many years ago, yet still shows no trace of vandalism; only natural decay...

By Stephen Millies

The death of six workers at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, during a Dec. 10 tornado didn’t have to happen. Workers died because Jeff Bezos is too cheap to build safe buildings.

The largest group of casualties from last weekend’s tornadoes were at the Mayfield Consumer Products factory in Kentucky. Apparently bosses ordered workers to ignore sirens and other tornado earnings and get back to work rather than seek shelter.

Multiple employees of the Mayfield Consumer Products factory told NBC News that they took shelter in bathrooms and hallways when they first heard tornado warning sirens, then supervisors ordered them back to work when they mistakenly assumed the danger had passed.

“I asked to leave and they told me I’d be fired,” Elijah Johnson, 20, told NBC, claiming that he was among a group of about 15 concerned colleagues who were refused permission to evacuate.

“‘Even with the weather like this, you’re still going to fire me?’” he said he asked his manager.

The manager replied, “Yes,” Johnson said, adding that bosses took a roll call to find out if anybody had already left.

[ ... ]

McKayla Emery, 21, interviewed by NBC from her hospital bed, said she overheard a group receiving a similar answer earlier in the evening.

I was reading this scripture a couple of days ago: “Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!” (James 3:5) It refers to the damage that our tongues can cause when we think the words we speak are simply inconsequential. But not so if those words cut to the heart and cause major damage to the receiver of those words.After reading…

So, yes, trying to forbid your employees from going home or driving back to the warehouse during a tornado warning isn’t “forcing them into unsafe situations”. The safest thing to do if your inside during a tornado warning is to stay inside. The safest thing to do if you’re driving during a tornado warning is to get out of your vehicle immediately and seek shelter anywhere in your immediate vicinity, even if it’s an open ditch (but not if it’s an overpass. I don’t care what you’ve heard, DO NOT GET UNDER AN OVERPASS.)

We can talk about whether it was right to threaten to fire people for not sticking to tornado safety, but there are so many other things to talk about that are far more damning of these companies. They include:

Amazon and the candle factory taking no preparations during the tornado watch.

Amazon and the candle factory not having adequate tornado shelters.

Amazon using their flimsy, cut and paste supper warehouse in areas where F3+ tornadoes are common.

Amazon continuing operations in the warehouse during the tornado warning.