By Arpan Chaturvedi
NEW DELHI, July 2 (Reuters) – Amazon said on Thursday it will take “appropriate action” against a third-party delivery partner in India once a police investigation into a fire that killed two workers concludes.
Amazon, one of India’s largest e-commerce companies, has also initiated an independent internal investigation into the incident, a source with direct knowledge said. The source did not want to be publicly identified citing the confidentiality of the issue.
A fire at M&M Logistics Solutions, an Amazon delivery partner in the northern state of Uttarakhand, killed two people on June 5. The building allegedly lacked a valid fire safety clearance, a fire alarm, smoke detectors and a proper emergency exit, according to a state police document reviewed by Reuters.
“We will take appropriate action in line with our policies once the (local authorities) investigation is complete,” Amazon said in a statement to Reuters.
State police in Uttarakhand and M&M Logistics did not respond to Reuters queries.
UNION CALLS FOR PROBE
In 2024, Amazon faced scrutiny from India’s human rights body, the National Human Rights Commission, over allegations of labour law violations during a severe heatwave at a warehouse near New Delhi. The commission was later informed that the state government had initiated legal action under India’s labour law over the complaints.
Amazon has said the safety and wellbeing of its workers is its top priority.
In a statement, the Amazon India Workers Union demanded an independent investigation by a judge into the June 5 deaths and called the incident an example of “a grave failure of workplace safety and protection of human dignity.”
M&M Logistics Solutions runs 45 Amazon delivery centers in 21 cities, delivering the e-commerce company’s packages across northern India, according to a 2023 Amazon press release.
Though M&M Logistics Solutions is a third-party vendor, Amazon’s internal code of conduct for suppliers and vendors says it does not tolerate working environments that are unsafe for humans, including uncontrolled fires.
The code says third-party contractors can be suspended or even terminated for any violations of its standards.
(Reporting by Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Aditya Kalra and Thomas Derpinghaus)
