Amazon is currently dealing with a tuberculosis (TB) situation at one of its UK warehouses, leading to demands for the immediate closure of the facility.
The company has confirmed that ten employees at its Coventry fulfillment center tested positive for non-contagious TB as of September last year.
Acknowledging the issue, Amazon stated that a “small number” of workers had been diagnosed with TB, often referred to as a Victorian disease, but these individuals are no longer contagious.
Amazon assured that no additional cases have been detected, and operations at the site continue normally. Nonetheless, an “expanded screening program” has been implemented as a precautionary measure.
TB is a bacterial infection primarily targeting the lungs. Although it is treatable, neglecting it can lead to severe, irreversible harm.
The disease is often associated with the Victorian era, during which it was widespread, resulting in the deaths of around four million people between the 1850s and 1910.
Workers at the Amazon warehouse in Coventry (pictured) have tested positive for tuberculosis (TB)
The GMB Union has previously held strikes at the site over pay and working conditions and has around 700 members at the warehouse
An Amazon spokesperson said: ‘Last year, a small number of people who work at our Coventry fulfilment centre tested positive for TB.
‘In line with best practice safety procedures, we immediately followed guidance from the NHS and UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and made all employees potentially affected aware of the situation.
‘Those affected by TB responded well to treatment and are no longer infectious, posing no onward risk.
‘As a precaution, we are running an expanded screening programme with the NHS this month.
‘To date, no additional cases have been identified, and our site continues to run as normal.
‘We will continue to follow guidance from the experts at UKHSA and the NHS, who are monitoring the situation, and would respectfully remind public organisations of the need for responsible communications where matters of public wellbeing are concerned.’
Around 3,000 staff work at the site, including around 700 GMB members.
GMB has called for the site to remain closed until infection control measures have been put in place to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said: ‘Currently, Amazon is putting all workers, site visitors, and the local and wider communities at risk of exposure to a serious infectious disease.
‘Coventry Amazon risks becoming the engine room of a mass TB outbreak of a scale not seen for decades.
‘Immediate and decisive action – including the temporary closure of Amazon Coventry – is required to prevent this.’
For thousands of years the disease was the biggest health threat in the world.
It was previously called phthisis, consumption and even the White Plague.
Despite sweeping advances in medical care, the World Health Organization (WHO) still considers it the deadliest infectious disease on the planet, killing 1.25 million people in 2023 alone.
A GMB sign outside the Amazon warehouse in Coventry during a walkout in March 2024
In 2024, the number of people who contracted the disease in the UK rose by 13.6 per cent to 5,490 people.
Some people can have TB in their body but experience no symptoms of the disease – this is known as latent TB.
Latent TB cannot be spread to others but can turn into active and contagious TB if untreated.
The warehouse has been the site of industrial action for GMB before.
In March 2024, workers walked out of the Coventry warehouse over pay, working conditions and to get the online retail giant to ‘formally recognise their union’.
By September of that year, Amazon agreed to a pay rise for thousands of warehouse workers.
