Citations from federal regulators’ continuing examination of the company’s warehouses show reports for Amazon. The report claims that Amazon failed to submit specific worker injuries on legally required injury reports. The US Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited Amazon for 14 record-keeping infractions.
Records include failing to record injuries and illnesses, misclassifying injuries and illnesses, and failing to record injuries. Additionally, illnesses promptly and failing to provide OSHA with injury and illness records. Six warehouses in Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Colorado, and New York were examined by regulators.
Amazon’s earlier claims that the corporation is effectively reducing accident rates at its fulfillment hubs are complicated by the citations. According to information provided to the Department of Labor by the firm, injuries among Amazon warehouse employees occur approximately twice as frequently as those among non-Amazon workers in the same sector.
By 2025, according to Amazon, it will have made efforts to reduce accident rates at its warehouses in line with the sector average.
US Warehouse of Amazon are at more risk
An investigation conducted earlier this year revealed that over 750,000 US warehouse workers of Amazon are much more at risk of injury. The reason behind the risk is the company’s high production targets.
Federal officials warned Amazon on Friday that its underreporting may make it more difficult for it to address the underlying causes of accidents at its sites. Regulators have already discovered the company’s strict disciplinary policies for underperforming employees. Moreover, its heavy emphasis on speed and production is to blame for the abnormally high incidence of strains and sprains at its warehouses.
Amazon has refuted claims that its productivity targets are harming people. “Our concern is that nothing will be done to keep an injury from recurring if it isn’t even recorded in the logbook, which — is a company the size of Amazon — could have significant consequences for many workers,” Doug Parker said. He is the Department of Labor’s assistant secretary for health and safety.
A spokesman for Amazon named Kelly Nantel described the findings as “a small number of administrative errors.”
According to Nantel, the firm is “confident in the numbers we’ve reported to the government.” Noting that authorities categorized the infractions as “other than serious,” which is the least serious type of workplace safety violation. “The safety of our employees is our top priority, and we invest hundreds of millions of dollars every year into ensuring we have a robust safety program to protect them,” Nantel added.
Unreported injuries occur in Colorado
For instance, a worker at an Amazon fulfillment center in Colorado complained of shoulder soreness after frequently lifting parcels. Employee got a muscle relaxant from Amazon’s in-house clinic. After five days, the employee was moved to a new position that would not worsen his injury. The firm did not disclose this injury.
According to the citations, Amazon neglected to report 11 injuries over six weeks in 2022. At a facility in Albany, New York, where a union election earlier this autumn resulted in defeat for labor activists.
