An employee has died at the new Amazon facility outside London

CTV News London received a first look at the new Amazon fulfillment centre in Elgin County on Aug. 22, 2023. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)

The Ministry of Labour (MOL) is investigating after a person died at the Amazon Warehouse in Talbotville.

According the MOL, its office was notified of the incident on Jan. 15 after a worker was found unresponsive at their workstation.

Amazon confirmed with CTV News London that on Sunday, an alarm sounded at 11:10 p.m. and everybody in the building was evacuated outside.

The low temperature recorded on Jan. 14 was -15 C, not including the wind chill.

The site was cleared for re-entry at 11:27 p.m.

Once employees were back inside, the company said several people, including the deceased, spent about 45 minutes in the break room warming up before returning to their workstations.

Shortly after returning to his workstation, the employee collapsed for unknown reasons near a water cooler.

“We’re grieving the loss of our colleague, and our thoughts are with his family and loved ones. We’re providing support to anyone at the site who may need it, including counseling services, and encouraging employees to use resources available to them via our Employee Assistance Program. We won’t speculate on the cause of death, but the incident itself does not appear to be work-related.”

A statement from Amazon went on to say that there’s no truth to the claim that employees couldn’t sit in their vehicles during the evacuation, “In fact, some employees chose to sit in their vehicles while the site was being cleared for re-entry,” read the statement.

It also said there’s no truth to claims that employees were asked to get out of their cars. “It’s possible a site leader went to employees’ car windows to make sure the individuals were accounted for, to pass out a warming kit, or to let employees know the fire marshal had given the all-clear to return to the building. But, no one was told they couldn’t wait in their vehicle. “

The company also said warming kits were available to everyone and include a knit cap, tube socks, knit gloves, mylar blanket, and hand warmers.

The MOL said as the ministry’s investigation is ongoing, no further comment is available at this time.