Amazon’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama. A Senate investigation found that Amazon workers are nearly twice as likely to be injured as workers in other warehouses in the industry. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images Hide caption
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Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
A Senate committee investigation has found that Amazon, the nation’s largest online retailer, is putting workers at risk of injury in the name of speed while making its warehouses appear safer than they actually are. was accused of manipulating workplace injury data.
The findings were released late Sunday by the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (R-Vt.).
The report was based on an 18-month investigation that examined seven years of Amazon workplace injury data and interviewed more than 130 Amazon employees.
Despite Amazon’s claims of safe working conditions, company data shows that its warehouses have “significantly higher” injury rates than both industry average warehouses and non-Amazon warehouses. It turned out that.
More specifically, over the past seven years, Amazon workers were nearly twice as likely to be injured compared to workers at other warehouses in the sector. The report also found that Amazon warehouses experienced 30% more injuries than the industry average in 2023.
The report concluded that Amazon’s employees were put at risk by being forced to work at an “extremely fast and often dangerous pace.” Although the company has safety protocols in place, the report says, “the fees the company requires make them nearly impossible to follow.”
“Amazon’s continued and routine endangerment of the nation’s second-largest civilian workforce must end. Congress cannot allow any company to treat its workers as disposable,” the report said. said.
Amazon on Monday denied the findings, insisting that the company has made significant safety improvements over the years, even as consumer demand soars.
“This investigation was not a fact-finding exercise, but rather an attempt to gather information and distort it to support a false narrative,” the company said in a statement.
This is not the first time Amazon has faced accusations of injury rates far above industry averages, which the company says are flawed. Amazon claims the actual injury rate is only “slightly above” average.
A Congressional report on Sunday rejected Amazon’s defense, saying the company’s comparisons were misleading. The report says Amazon’s injury rates appear lower because it compares warehouses of all sizes to an industry average that includes only large warehouses (those with 1,000 or more employees), which tend to have higher injury rates. Many of Amazon’s warehouses have fewer than 1,000 employees
“Amazon’s safety record becomes even more problematic when injury rates at Amazon’s warehouses are compared to average injury rates for warehouses nationwide, not just warehouses in the company’s preferred subcategories, the study found. .”
Amazon said Monday it stands by its methodology in comparing injury rates.
The report also accused Amazon of preventing injured workers from receiving outside medical care. The investigation reviewed citations, hazard warnings from federal inspectors, and testimony from injured workers and safety personnel and found that Amazon’s on-site medical facilities ensured that workers received the care they needed beyond first aid. It turned out to be “hindering”.
“Employees do this by blaming workers for injuries, failing to seek professional consultation, and refusing to refer workers to outside medical facilities,” the report said. Ta.
The HELP Committee is the latest group to accuse Amazon of unsafe working conditions.
Last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that movements performed by some Amazon warehouse workers — such as twisting, bending, and performing long hands as many as nine times a minute — could lead to lower back injuries and other musculoskeletal conditions. found to increase the risk.
Sunday’s Congressional report also cited cases of workers suffering from “chronic pain, loss of mobility, temporary and permanent disability, and reduced quality of life” as a result of injuries sustained in Amazon warehouses. It became clear.
Amazon is one of NPR’s recent financial backers.
