Amazon.com Inc is testing the use of disinfectant fog at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, the company told Reuters, following worker protests over the risk of coronavirus infection at the site.
The measure shows how the world's largest online retailer is aiming to increase safety cleaning without closing facilities essential to its operation, as some workers and elected officials have demanded.
Amazon said it is trying out disinfectant fog as used by airlines and hospitals to further sanitise its facilities. The pilot programme follows an announcement last week that the company would check workers' temperature and make masks available at all US and European sites in its operations network.
'More Preventative Measures'
"We continue to explore even more preventative measures to support the health and safety of employees, who are providing a critical service in our communities," Amazon said in a statement.
The New York warehouse, known internally as JFK8, is one of several locations where small groups of Amazon employees have walked out to highlight the risks they face from working where colleagues have become infected with the virus, which causes the sometimes deadly COVID-19 respiratory illness.
The virus has led to at least 80,000 deaths globally and infected more than 1.4 million people - including workers at more than 50 Amazon facilities, according to a New York Times report.
New York is currently the epicentre of the US outbreak with by far the most confirmed COVID-19 cases and related deaths.
The company has said it is requiring staff to keep safe distances from each other.
