Committee hears call for more shelter inspections after deadly Edwardsville tornado

[February 15, 2022]  By Andrew Hensel

(The Center Square) – The Illinois House Labor and Commerce Committee met with safety officials to discuss the lack of enforcement of tornado shelter requirements for warehouses.

The review of safety standards for storm shelters for Illinois warehouses comes after a tornado claimed six lives at an Amazon Warehouse in Edwardsville in December.

Some Edwardsville workers were crushed by the collapsing walls of the warehouse after an EF-3 tornado ripped through the town. The warehouse did not have a proper "safe room," according to an investigation.

Illinois warehouses are required by the International Code Council to have a safe room or shelter built into the facility. Jim Bell, director of operations with the National Storm Shelter Association, said the problem is with the lack of enforcement of safety regulations.

"Illinois has adopted the ICC 500, but it's more of if it is being enforced," Bell said. "That's the issue that I am seeing."

The ICC 500 applies to the design, construction, installation and inspections of both residential and community storm shelters.

Bell said that building inspectors are so busy taking care of other issues that the shelters sometimes go uninspected.

"All of them said they are so busy inspecting electrical, and roofs and plumbing, and simply do not have the time to inspect the tornado shelters or even have the knowledge to inspect those shelters," Bell said.

The committee is calling for stricter enforcement by inspectors and building owners alike when maintaining tornado shelters for their workers.