The Ministry of Labor is conducting an investigation following the death of an employee at the Amazon Customer Fulfillment Center in Talbotville, Ontario, about an hour after a fire alarm led to the evacuation of the center and the employees being brought outside into very cold weather.

The incident occurred on Sunday evening when the cold was severe, a warning related to Middlesex-London Health issued about the cold weather that day, noting that wind chill values were expected to reach 22 in the evening and continue to drop throughout the night.

Amazon said the alarm went off at 11:10 PM and the evacuation process began immediately, then employees were allowed to re-enter after clearing at 11:27 PM on Sunday.

Company spokesperson Maureen LynchVogel said: "Nothing is more important than the health and safety of our employees, which is why we ensured the site was evacuated quickly and heating devices were provided to keep employees warm and comfortable."

Lynch Vogel expressed sadness, saying: "We are saddened by the loss of our colleague, our hearts are with his family and loved ones, and we offer support to anyone on-site who may need it, including counseling services, and we encourage employees to use the resources available to them through our Employee Assistance Program. We will not speculate on the cause of death, but the incident itself does not appear to be work-related."

Amazon says the employee collapsed for unknown reasons near the water cooler next to his workstation, and called an ambulance immediately, and says it is cooperating with the Ministry of Labor investigations.

However, Amazon has contested several claims in an article published by the London Free Press, which cited employees stating they were outside for more than 17 minutes, that there were not enough heating devices for everyone, and that supervisors asked employees who tried to warm up in their cars to leave them.

Amazon says it is possible the site leader may have gone to workers' cars to check on them or give information, but the company says no one was asked to leave their car, and the company also says heating devices were available to everyone.