EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — The Illinois Legislature will consider possible statewide standards for warehouse construction, following the collapse of an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville during a tornado in December.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced the move Wednesday at an unrelated news conference in East St. Louis, according to the Belleville News-Democrat.
“The question is, with all the warehouses that are being built or have been built, should we be setting a state standard for that? That’s something that no doubt will be explored during this session of the General Assembly,” Pritzker said, according to the publication.
The governor said the Legislature should look at whether it should create statewide standards versus those now done on a county-by-county or municipality basis.
Six workers died the night of Dec. 10 when an EF-3 tornado hit the Amazon delivery center, which the company refers to as DL14, at 3077 Gateway Commerce Center Drive South in Edwardsville. Winds of up to 150 miles per hour caused concrete walls and the roof to collapse.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has opened an investigation into whether any violations of workplace safety or health regulations contributed to the collapse of the 1.1 million-square-foot delivery station.
The OSHA investigation won't examine the facility's structure or whether it met building codes, an OSHA spokesman told the News-Democrat.
The warehouse was built to code, an Amazon spokeswoman previously has said.
Prizker said Wednesday that whether the codes need to be changed is a question for lawmakers, according to the publication.
The plans to hold hearings to explore what can be done in the upcoming session, said
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