EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (WAND) Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Amazon officials met in Edwardsville on Monday to discuss Friday night's deadly storm.
Efforts are underway both locally and federally to better understand how a large section of the Edwardsville Amazon Delivery Warehouse collapsed when a tornado ripped through the area Friday night.
Pritzker said on Monday state and local officials in Edwardsville are working to determine if there were any structural issues with the facility.
"Already there has been an effort to determine some of the challenges the structure, if there were any structural issues, what exactly the storm's trajectory was coming in and affecting various pieces," Pritzker said.
An EF-3 tornado with tops wind speeds of 150 mph destroyed a portion of the Amazon warehouse. Six Amazon workers died and one person remains in the hospital with injuries.
NBC affiliate KSDK reported the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed an official investigation is underway on the warehouse.
"OSHA has had compliance officers at the complex since Saturday, December 11 to provide assistance," OSHA spokesperson Scott Allen told KSDK. "OSHA has six months to complete its investigation, issue citations and propose monetary penalties if violations of workplace safety and or health regulations are found.”
Amazon officials said all storm procedures were followed on Friday night when the storm traveled through the area. Sirens outside notified the severe weather threat, alerts were sent to phone and warehouse leaders notified workers through blow horns and radios to move to the shelter in place location.
"This tornado, by the time the warnings came throughm we were in a matter of minutes, we moved very quickly and it was catastrophic," said Amazon Director of Media Relations Kelly Nantel.
There were 46 people in the building at the time, according to John Feldman, Amazon's senior vice president of global delivery service. Of them, 39 were working on the north side of the building and seven were on the south side. The area designated as a "safe space" was located on the north side. There wasn't a similar space on the south side, Nantel added.
Feldman said "all procedures were followed correctly" during the tornado warning. He added that Amazon will continue investigating what happened to see what they can do better or differently in the future.
Pritzker added he has already begun talks with lawmakers about code changes, especially as severe weather continues later into the year.
In addition, the State of Illinois issued a disaster proclamation for counties across central Illinois and southern Illinois impacted by Friday's storms and tornadoes.
