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An Amazon delivery driver in Michigan has gone viral on TikTok after continuing to deliver to an address while storm sirens were going off around her.
In actuality, she was wearing headphones that meant she was unaware of the sirens, but the weather conditions were pretty adverse with high winds and rain.
Tito Diaz was getting ready to go out to dinner with his wife, Mollie, when he noticed a driver sitting in a van outside his home on August 27 around 6 p.m. He went to check whether the driver was OK, and she said she was taking a short break because of the intense heat.
Shortly after a storm siren began sounding.
The pastor from Ypsilanti, Michigan, said: "The rain got crazy, and we heard the siren go off. We called the family together to sit in the middle of the house away from the windows. Immediately, I thought, The driver is outside, and opened the door again to get her attention.
"I tried several times to yell out to her to ask her to come inside, but I could not yell over the rain and wind. It was wild.”
Eventually, he went outside and found the driver with her headphones in, unaware of the storm siren.
”She was startled to see me, pulled her headphones out, and then heard the siren, too. I yelled for her to come inside the house. She agreed, and I ran back inside the house, thinking she was right behind me.
“When I turned around, I saw her in the rain and wind, tornado sirens going off ... SCANNING THE PACKAGES. I was like, ain't no way this girl trying to make sure we get our packages in a dang tornado. But sure enough she was. I was in total disbelief of her desire to go above and beyond to make sure we got our packages. It was then that I pulled out my phone and started recording her," Diaz added.
A spokesperson for Amazon, said: "Safety is always our top priority. When severe weather happens, we work with our Delivery Service Partners and communicate with drivers to make sure they're able to seek shelter or take a break depending on conditions. We also regularly remind anyone who delivers on our behalf that they should never make a delivery if conditions aren't safe to do so.”
Whilst the TikTok video has been received as a good news story about an Amazon driver going above and beyond, it has raised further questions about Amazon’s record on worker safety.
In 2021 the firm was criticized after a delivery driver in Illinois was warned she would be fired if she stopped delivering and returned to the warehouse during a storm siren.
Amazon said the dispatcher “should have immediately directed the driver to seek shelter” when they reported hearing the sirens and said that “under no circumstance should the dispatcher have threatened the driver’s employment.”
Back at the warehouse, however, six workers died when the tornado tore the roof off, raising questions over whether adequate shelter was available, whether workers were advised to go there immediately, and whether the shifts should have gone ahead that evening, given the warnings of severe weather.
Following the incident, Amazon faced five separate lawsuits filed by surviving employees and families who lost loved ones claiming negligence.
The tornado prompted Illinois lawmakers to look at warehouse safety and create the Warehouse Safety Standards Task Force, which is expected to put together a report with its findings and recommendations by 2025.
