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Amazon construction site passes inspection after Covid complaints
Electrician had alleged safety protocols were not followed
After an electrician alleged that Covid protocols were being ignored at an Amazon construction site, a Department of Buildings inspector found “no unsafe conditions” there.
The inspector said that “workers were wearing face coverings, maintaining social distance and no unsafe conditions were observed.”
The complaint was the second in three days at the site. The Department of Buildings responded to the other one as well and also found no violations, an agency spokesperson said.
In the complaint covered Tuesday by The Real Deal, the unnamed electrician reported that construction workers at the location, 526 Gulf Avenue, were being told that they do not have to wear masks in areas not monitored by Amazon’s cameras, that the site was not being disinfected and that Covid-19 screenings were being forged.
None of that showed up on the inspector’s report, to the relief of the contractor in charge.
“Krusinski Construction Company is committed to protecting the health and safety of its workers and others and to following all safety requirements and regulations,” a representative for the company said in a statement, adding that the firm would investigate.
The same warehouse is the subject of a lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging a failure to disinfect the warehouse or efficiently conduct contact tracing, and that when those issues were raised, Amazon wrongfully fired a worker.
Some warehouse employees at the facility are attempting to form a union. That effort targets Amazon, not contractors at the site.
Although the April 19 and 20 complaints could not be substantiated by the Department of Buildings, the agency spokesperson urged that Covid protocol violations be reported.
“The Department continues to encourage anyone that suspects a construction site is not following our construction Covid-19 health and safety requirements to let us know about it by filing an official complaint through the 311 system,” the spokesperson said.