Amazon has refuted reports of a cell phone ban in wake of deadly tornado disaster

• Amazon refuted reports that it has a cell phone ban policy in place at its warehouses in the wake of the deadly tornado disaster.
• "Employees and drivers are allowed to have their cell phones," the e-commerce giant told Insider.

Amazon has refuted reports that the e-commerce giant has a cell phone ban policy in place at its warehouses in the wake of the deadly tornado disaster that destroyed a company facility in Illinois.

The company told Insider on Monday that "employees and drivers are allowed to have their cell phones" on them during their shifts.

Amazon workers had spoken out against a purported policy that banned cellphones in warehouses after a tornado demolished a company warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Friday night, leaving six employees dead.

"After these deaths, there is no way in hell I am relying on Amazon to keep me safe," an Amazon worker from a nearby facility in Illinois told Bloomberg. "If they institute the no cell phone policy, I am resigning."

Bloomberg reported that Amazon had relaxed its rules barring phones on the warehouse floor during the COVID-19 pandemic, but said the company has been slowly reintroducing the ban across the country.

One Amazon employee who works at the tornado-ravaged Edwardsville delivery center told Insider that she was not "100% sure" that a cell phone ban was in place at the facility, but recalled that an employee handbook given to her when she was first hired "says no phones on the floor for safety reasons."

"I believe it's advised that we don't have our phones on the floor for safety reasons," said the worker, Emily Epperson, 23.

Epperson, who has worked at the facility for a year as a driver, said that most employees still keep their phones on them while working.

"I am almost positive that every single person does have their cell phone in at least their pocket or their bag," Epperson said.

Epperson was a co-worker and friend of 26-year-old Austin McEwen, who was among the six employees killed as a result of the tornado that caused the roof of the warehouse to collapse.

"My heart is broken," she said.