Starbucks, a US-based coffee business, intends to shut 16 of its outlets due to employee safety issues.

“After careful consideration, we are closing some branches in locations where there have been challenging incidents that have made it unsafe to continue our operations,” a Starbucks spokesperson told CNN.

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The branches in question are located in Seattle, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington DC and Portland, the spokesperson said, pointing to the end of July as the closing date.

The decision comes as Starbucks, under interim CEO Howard Schultz, has been making changes to the company’s culture and has led efforts to unionize employees.

In an email to employees on Monday, Debbie Stroud and Denise Nelson, Starbucks managers in the U.S., addressed the issue of safety in branches, noting that employees have “first-hand exposure to issues in American society such as personal safety, racism, lack of access to health care, a growing mental health crisis, and increased drug use.