Amazon Warehouse Worker Billy Foister Dies on Warehouse Floor After Heart Attack

On September 2, 2019, Billy Foister, a 48-year-old Amazon warehouse worker, suffered a fatal heart attack at the Amazon fulfillment center in Etna, Ohio. According to his brother and coworkers, Foister lay on the warehouse floor for approximately 20 minutes before being discovered by an Amazon “Amnesty” worker. He was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead. Workers on Foister’s shift were told to return to work shortly after paramedics removed him, with “no time to decompress” after watching a colleague die. The incident highlighted Amazon’s treatment of worker health emergencies and the company’s prioritization of productivity over worker welfare and dignity.

Prior Warning Signs Ignored

One week before his fatal heart attack, Billy Foister went to the warehouse’s AmCare clinic—Amazon’s on-site medical facility—reporting headaches and chest pains. These are classic warning signs of cardiac distress that should have prompted immediate medical evaluation and possibly emergency care. Instead, Amazon’s clinic staff took his blood pressure, told him he was dehydrated, gave him two drinks, and sent him back to work on the warehouse floor.

This response exemplified Amazon’s approach to worker health complaints: minimize the seriousness of symptoms, provide minimal intervention, and return workers to productivity as quickly as possible. The clinic staff either lacked medical training to recognize cardiac emergency warning signs, or operated under protocols that prioritized keeping workers on the floor over proper medical evaluation.

For a week after reporting chest pains, Foister continued working under the intense physical demands and stress of Amazon warehouse work. The company’s productivity tracking systems would have continued monitoring his output, penalizing any slowdown that might have resulted from his deteriorating condition. Amazon’s algorithmic management system created incentives for workers to ignore health problems and continue working even when experiencing serious symptoms.

The Fatal Heart Attack: Twenty Minutes on the Floor

On September 2, 2019, Billy Foister suffered a cardiac arrest while working. According to his brother Edward Foister, an Amazon human resources representative told him at the hospital that Billy had lain on the warehouse floor for 20 minutes after the heart attack before being found.

The 20-minute delay before discovery raised disturbing questions about conditions in Amazon warehouses:

Warehouse Layout and Isolation: Amazon’s massive fulfillment centers spread workers across hundreds of thousands of square feet, often with workers laboring in relative isolation to meet productivity quotas. The fact that Foister could lie unconscious for 20 minutes suggests either that workers were too dispersed for anyone to notice a collapsed colleague, or that the pressure to maintain productivity metrics discouraged workers from leaving their stations to check on others.

Amnesty Workers: Foister was eventually found by an “Amnesty” worker—part of Amazon’s system where designated workers retrieve items that fell on the floor or don’t fit on shelves. The fact that it took an Amnesty worker’s rounds to discover Foister, rather than a supervisor or nearby coworker, further suggests the isolation and lack of supervision in Amazon facilities.

Medical Response Timing: Even after discovery, critical time had been lost. Brain damage from oxygen deprivation begins within 4-6 minutes of cardiac arrest, and survival chances decrease rapidly with each passing minute. The 20-minute delay before Foister was found meant that even immediate CPR and defibrillation after discovery came too late to save his life.

“Go Back to Work”: Forced Return After Watching Colleague Die

Shortly after paramedics transported Foister from the warehouse, managers told workers on his shift to return to their stations and resume work. According to Amazon workers on the shift, they were given “no time to decompress” after watching a man pass away. One worker described the experience: “Basically watch a man pass away and then get told to go back to work, everyone, and act like it’s fine.”

This response demonstrated Amazon’s priorities with brutal clarity. The company’s production schedules and productivity targets took precedence over:

• Worker trauma from witnessing a colleague’s medical emergency and death
• Basic human decency and respect for a deceased worker
• Allowing workers time to process grief and shock
• Providing mental health support or crisis counseling

The immediate return to work also prevented workers from discussing what happened, asking questions about what might have prevented Foister’s death, or organizing any collective response. By dispersing workers back to their stations and restoring the normal productivity-monitoring regime, Amazon reasserted control and minimized the incident’s disruptive potential.

Amazon’s Response: Denial and Deflection

Amazon denied that Billy Foister died at the warehouse, stating that “the employee was transported to a local hospital where he was later pronounced deceased.” This was technically accurate—Foister was pronounced dead at the hospital—but obscured the material facts: he suffered the cardiac arrest at work, lay on the warehouse floor for 20 minutes, and the delay in receiving care contributed to his death.

Amazon’s statement exemplified corporate crisis management that prioritizes legal liability over transparency or accountability. By emphasizing that death was pronounced at a hospital rather than acknowledging the workplace cardiac arrest and delayed discovery, Amazon attempted to create distance between the death and workplace conditions.

The company provided no public acknowledgment of having sent Foister back to work one week earlier despite his complaints of chest pains and headaches. Amazon never explained why its clinic staff didn’t recognize cardiac warning signs or refer Foister for emergency evaluation. The company never addressed why it took 20 minutes for anyone to discover a collapsed worker, or why workers were immediately sent back to work after a traumatic death.

Significance: The Human Cost of Productivity Systems

Billy Foister’s death illuminated the deadly potential of Amazon’s warehouse management philosophy. Multiple system failures contributed to his death:

Inadequate Medical Care: Amazon’s on-site clinic failed to recognize or appropriately respond to cardiac emergency warning signs, prioritizing return-to-work over proper medical evaluation.

Productivity Pressure: Amazon’s algorithmic monitoring systems created pressure for Foister to continue working despite cardiac symptoms, as taking time off or slowing down would have counted against his productivity metrics and potentially led to termination.

Warehouse Isolation: The massive scale and layout of Amazon facilities, combined with intense individual productivity monitoring, meant a worker could suffer a cardiac arrest and lie undiscovered for 20 minutes.

Dehumanization: The immediate return-to-work order after Foister’s death demonstrated how thoroughly Amazon’s systems prioritized productivity over human welfare, trauma, or grief.

Foister’s death was not an isolated incident but part of a pattern of worker deaths and serious injuries at Amazon facilities. However, his case was particularly well-documented, with family members willing to speak publicly and workers providing detailed accounts of both the prior clinic visit and the return-to-work order.

For labor advocates and worker safety experts, Foister’s death exemplified how Amazon’s celebrated efficiency and rapid delivery times were built on a foundation of worker exploitation that could prove fatal. The same systems that enabled two-day shipping and record profits—algorithmic monitoring, productivity pressure, massive warehouse footprints, minimal staffing, inadequate medical support—created conditions where a worker could complain of chest pains, be sent back to work, suffer a heart attack, lie undiscovered for 20 minutes, and die while his coworkers were immediately ordered back to their stations.

The incident occurred during a period of increasing scrutiny of Amazon’s labor practices, adding to mounting evidence that the company’s business model imposed unacceptable human costs in pursuit of efficiency and profit. Billy Foister’s death became a rallying point for advocates demanding fundamental reforms to warehouse working conditions, better medical care, reduced productivity pressure, and worker power to refuse unsafe conditions without fear of termination.