Robot Punctures Can of Bear Repellant At Amazon Warehouse, Sickening Workers

[appalachiablue]

NPR, Dec. 6, Excerpts: 24 workers at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey were taken to area hospitals after being exposed to bear repellent on Wednesday morning, when a robot punctured a can of the aerosol spray. One woman was reported to have been critically injured in the incident, which caused at least 54 workers to have difficulty breathing, and burning throats and eyes, NJ.com reports. The warehouse, which is ventilated, measures about 1.3 million square feet.

"All of the impacted employees have been or are expected to be released from hospital within the next 24 hours." Amazon told news outlets in a statement Wednesday night. The incident happened at an Amazon facility in Robbinsville, outside of Trenton. The trouble occurred after an automated machine punctured a 9 oz. can of bear repellent, which contained capsaicin – the chemical that makes chili peppers fiery. Hundreds of workers are at the facility.

On Twitter, a number of people had the same reaction: "This is how it begins.".. in the future many of those workers may be replaced by robots that never sleep and aren't bothered by fumes.

The Amazon facility's workers are not unionized, but Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, issued a statement critical of the company's labor practices. "Amazon's automated robots put humans in life-threatening danger today, the effects of which could be catastrophic and the long-term effects for 80+ workers are unknown," he said. "The richest company in the world cannot continue to be let off the hook for putting hard working people's lives at risk."

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/06/674201649/robot-punctures-can-of-bear-repellent-at-amazon-warehouse-sickening-workers



- Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, N.J., were sickened on Wednesday after an automated machine punctured a can of bear repellent. The warehouse is seen here in June.

[LakeSuperiorView]

1. Bear repellant works on humans too... SkyNet just learned something....

[California_Republic]

4. Ha ha. That's just what we said at work

It was a Skynet test.

[Eugene]

2. This Wasn't Even Amazon's First Bear Repellent Accident

Source: Wired

LOUISE MATSAKIS BUSINESS 12.06.1807:36 PM

THIS WASN'T EVEN AMAZON'S FIRST BEAR REPELLENT ACCIDENT

-snip-

But things get much stranger when you realize this isn’t the first time a can of bear repellent has exploded in an Amazon facility. In 2015, the fire department responded to an accident at an Amazon facility in Haslet, Texas, that was caused by a robot running over a can of none other than bear repellent, according to public records unearthed by Jessica Bruder for her book Nomadland, which chronicles the lives of the retail giant’s older, transient workforce.

The New Jersey incident wasn’t even the first bear repellent accident at an Amazon facility in 2018! One employee at an Amazon warehouse in Indiana told WIRED that a can ruptured in his facility earlier this year. The worker says that accident was caused by someone dropping the can and they believe no injuries occurred. They think the way the product is packaged may be the issue; the employee adds that they, too, have dropped the repellent, though in their case it didn’t rupture. “It’s a clamshell that pops open when you pick it up,” says the employee. “What I can say is that our safety people are on it and they are top-notch.”

-snip-

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-first-bear-repellent-accident/

[appalachiablue]

3. Thanks for the updates. Hope it's a matter a packaging

that can remedied so this doesn't keep happening. Jeesh.