Amazon’s worker safety hazards come under fire from regulators and the DOJ

For years, Amazon warehouse staffers have complained about unsafe working circumstances and the harm dangers they face when speeding to fill packages and get them to clients in two days or much less.

While Amazon claims its harm charge is coming down, facility-level information launched final month from the U.S. Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration underscores employee considerations, exhibiting that in 2022 Amazon laborers had been injured at a charge of 6.9 for each 100. In January, OSHA investigators cited Amazon for “failing to keep workers safe.”

Industrywide numbers for final 12 months will not be launched till November, however OSHA head Doug Parker mentioned Amazon has a historical past of harm charges which are far greater than others within the warehouse class. In 2021, Amazon’s harm charge was virtually 1.5 instances the trade common. At some Amazon warehouse places, Parker mentioned, the speed was as excessive as 12 staff out of 100.

“That’s more than 10% of the workforce every year who are receiving injuries on the job that are serious enough that they have to take time away from their jobs,” Parker mentioned, relating to these warehouses. “We know that it’s affecting thousands of workers and it’s very alarming.”

Bobby Gosvener is one former employee dwelling with ache.

Gosvener labored at an Amazon warehouse in Tulsa, Oklahoma, till 2020. He mentioned after a conveyor belt malfunctioned that December he was left with a herniated disk that required neck surgical procedure. He’s now on everlasting partial incapacity.

“I have to live with this injury for the rest of my life,” Gosvener mentioned. “I hate to this day even to order through Amazon because it’s so convenient, but every time I look at a box, I think of the process of what went through it and who got hurt in the midst of it.”

Jennifer Crane works by ache at an Amazon warehouse in St. Peters, Missouri, after hurting her wrist in October. She mentioned she tore a ligament from “packing a case of sparkling water repetitively all day, along with dog food and Gatorades.” She wears a brace to assist her get by the day.

“After like two hours of heavy lifting, I’m taking pain meds,” Crane mentioned.

She wants the job. Crane turned a single mother to her seven sons when her husband died of a coronary heart assault in 2019.

“I’ve got to be able to support them. I have bills to pay,” she mentioned. Crane mentioned she is aware of she might search for different work, “but right now I’m in the fight to try to make it better there for everybody.”

Crane is circulating a petition at her warehouse asking for a slower tempo of labor, extra breaks, ergonomic modifications and tools updates. 

In response to these accounts of harm and ache, Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel mentioned in an announcement, “Amazon worked diligently to accommodate both employees and ensure they had what they needed not only to work safely but also to recover. Any claim to the contrary is false.”

Amazon’s self-reported harm charge fell 9% between 2021 and 2022. Beyond warehouses, the e-commerce large says its harm charge throughout all worldwide operations, some 1.5 million staff, dropped almost 24% from 2019 to 2022.

“I don’t dispute that their injury rates may have gone down some over a period of time, but they’re still not good enough,” OSHA’s Parker mentioned.

Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of labor unions, crunched OSHA’s new information and located Amazon’s harm charge was greater than double that of all non-Amazon warehouses in 2022. According to the report, Amazon employed 36% of U.S. warehouse staff in 2022, however was liable for greater than 53% of all critical accidents within the trade.

Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, mentioned by e mail that the group’s findings “paint an inaccurate picture.”

“The safety and health of our employees is, and always will be, our top priority, and any claim otherwise is inaccurate,” Nantel mentioned. “We’re proud of the progress made by our team and we’ll continue working hard together to keep getting better every day.”

“Amazon’s apparent attitude about this is to deny that they have a problem,” mentioned Eric Frumin, SOC’s well being and security director.

Federal authorities at the moment are trying into the well being and questions of safety, with inspections throughout seven Amazon warehouses in 5 states final summer time. OSHA issued citations in any respect seven places.

“At every single facility we found serious hazards that were putting workers at serious risk of bodily harm,” Parker mentioned. “What is most concerning is the scale. We have every reason to believe that the types of processes where we found hazards in these facilities are processes that are used in Amazon facilities across the country.”

OSHA additionally acted on referrals from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which pointed to comparable hazards in its personal investigation of the amenities. Two extra warehouses had been cited for security violations by Washington state’s Department of Labor. OSHA additionally cited Amazon for 14 record-keeping violations, discovering that the corporate didn’t correctly report employee accidents and sicknesses.

Amazon is interesting all of the citations. If they’re upheld, the corporate should pay its first ever federal fines for employee musculoskeletal accidents. So far, they whole almost $152,000. The Washington state DOJ fines add a further $81,000.

Amazon has a market cap of roughly $1 trillion and final 12 months generated income of over $500 billion.

“There’s no amount of money that the Labor Department can impose as a penalty that’s going to make a difference to a company that runs through billions of dollars a day,” Frumin mentioned. “What matters is, are they going to respect the need for their workers to be safe?”

In a uncommon case of federal cooperation, the Department of Justice can be investigating Amazon, asking if the corporate “engaged in a fraudulent scheme designed to hide the true number of injuries,” in keeping with a January press launch. The DOJ’s civil division is trying into whether or not Amazon executives made “false representations” to lenders about its security report to acquire credit score. 

In an announcement, Amazon advised CNBC, “We strongly disagree with the allegations and are confident that this process will ultimately show they’re unfounded.” The firm mentioned it is increasing the group liable for record-keeping.

‘If you are speeding, you are going to make errors’

For Daniel Olayiwola, who’s labored at Amazon since 2017, the first concern is the stress to work shortly.

“You have to make sure these rates are met,” Olayiwola mentioned. “Otherwise you’re going to be getting a write-up. Then you’re not going to be getting any opportunities to switch positions or move up at all.”

Olayiwola launched a proposal ultimately 12 months’s annual shareholders assembly, asking Amazon to cease monitoring staff’ charge of labor and what’s known as “time off task.” The measure failed. 

“It is a big contributor to the amount of injuries we get at Amazons worldwide,” Olayiwola mentioned. “I can hands down say that. If you’re rushing, you’re going to make mistakes and someone’s going to get hurt.”

Olayiwola drives a forklift to select up heavy gadgets in a warehouse in San Antonio, Texas. He mentioned the slowest acceptable charge on the facility is about 22 an hour, “meaning you’d have to pick an item every three minutes.”

“Which is crazy if the item is a mirror, a dresser, a bed frame,” Olayiwola mentioned. “But you have to keep picking these items and you have to drop them off at these designated drop zones.”

An Amazon spokesperson mentioned in an e mail that the “pace of work” is not referenced in any of OSHA’s citations. But the Southern DIstrict of New York’s investigations at six warehouses cited tempo of labor as a difficulty. And three states — New York, California, and Washington — have handed laws in search of to curtail the usage of productiveness quotas at Amazon warehouses. 

In the meantime, Olayiwola has sought assist from United for Respect, a retail employee advocacy group, and he hosts a podcast known as “Surviving Scamazon.” Like Crane, he needs to assist his household whereas working to supply change from the within. His spouse is pregnant with their second youngster, and he calls his work at Amazon a “necessary evil.”

OSHA says comparable investigations are at present underway at 10 different Amazon websites, with broader investigations pending at dozens extra.

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