How Safe Is It To Work At Amazon Warehouses? Injuries At Higher Rates Than Competitors
A labor study released Tuesday showed that warehouse employees for e-commerce giant Amazon faced a higher injury rate in 2020 than those at similar retail companies.
The Strategic Organizing Center, a Washington, D.C.-based coalition of labor unions, cited data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and found that "for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers, there were 5.9 serious injuries requiring the worker to either miss work entirely (lost time) or be placed on light or restricted duty (light duty)."
The study noted that the figure was 80% higher than the industry average. Retail rival Walmart reported three cases for every 100 employees, which is about half as many as Amazon.
Meanwhile, the injury rate for Amazon delivery drivers is 13.3 workers for every 100.
Amazon has long faced scrutiny for its labor practices. In November 2019, Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting found internal injury records for 23 of Amazon's 110 fulfillment centers and that in 2018 there were 9.6 serious injuries per 100 full-time workers, compared with an industry average of four serious injuries per 100 full-time workers.
Amazon has spent more than $1 billion on programs like “Working Well." The program educates employees on how to bypass workplace injuries and offers mental health services.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has admitted “the company needs to do a better job for our employees” and vowed to make Amazon the world's “best employer.”
“While any incident is one too many, we are continuously learning and seeing improvements through ergonomics programs, guided exercises at employees’ workstations, mechanical assistance equipment, workstation setup and design, and forklift telematics and guardrails — to name a few,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told The Hill in a statement.
OSHA officials blamed “Amazon's productivity quotas,” which require workers to “pick, pack and stow” a high number of items per hour. Critics of Amazon's labor practices say such criteria creates a hostile and stressful environment for workers.
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