Serious Injuries Highest At Amazon Warehouses
New work-related injury statistics from the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have revealed that online shopping giant Amazon has reported higher rates of serious injuries compared to other warehouse operators.
According to BBC News, the figures from OSHA since 2017 showed that Amazon reported higher rates of injuries that cause employees to miss work or shift to lighter duties than any other retail warehouse operators.
In 2020, the figures show there were 5.9 serious injuries for every 100 employees at Amazon’s distribution warehouses, which is almost double the rate at non-Amazon facilities.
To compare, Walmart, the largest private employer in the US, and one of Amazon’s competitors reported 2.5 serious injuries per 100 workers at its warehouses in 2020.
The Washington Post, which first reported the news, found that 5,411 facilities used for warehousing and storage sent reports to OSHA in 2020. 638 of the facilities are owned by Amazon and its subsidiaries.
OSHA’s report does not state the causes of the injuries, and Amazon workers and union representatives say that the blame partly lies in productivity pressures.
Warehouse workers at Amazon fulfilment centres, sorting centres and delivery stations are pushed to meet hourly rates for stowing, picking and packing items, which some critics say is too difficult and leads to injuries.
In May, Amazon launched its WorkingWell initiative that aims to reduce the risk of injuries in its workforce by 50 per cent by 2025.
The company said that it has plans to invest over $300 million in safety products in 2020. The scheme will focus on targeting work-related injuries ties to musculoskeletal disorders, which account for 40 per cent of Amazon’s work-related injuries.
Amazon said these types of injuries, which usually include sprains or strains from repetitive motions, fell by 32 per cent between 2019 and 2020.
An Amazon fulfilment centre in Washington state was fined $7,000 in May by the state’s Department of Labour and Industries for hazardous conditions within the DuPont facility.
The agency said Amazon violated the law by pressuring warehouse employees to work at speeds that exacerbate injuries without adequate time to recover, according to the Seattle Times.
Several employees shared their work-injury stories at Amazon warehouses with the Washington Post, including 26-year-old Safiyo Mohamed who was injured in 2018 at the Shakopee, Minnesota warehouse during the peak holiday season when she was moving goods off a conveyer belt.
Her doctor told her she had a slipped disk and she should avoid heavy lifting at work, but Amazon did not give her time off and a supervisor encouraged her to work through the pain.
“They just kept me working,” she said. “They didn't care if I was injured or not. They want me to hit this (performance) goal.”
A spokesperson for Amazon disputed some of Mohamed account of events, saying that she did not seek medical attention for several days after the incident, and when she did, she was seen by on-site medical staff for three separate first aid treatments.
According to the Post, there was no indication at that time that the injury was serious and that the company accommodated Mohamed with light-duty work during the remainder of her time with Amazon.
However, Mohamed claims she was never offered light duty.
Amazon’s spokesperson also told the Post in a statement that part of the company's investment into worker safety included hiring more than 6,200 employees to its workplace health and safety group.
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