Amazon workers made up almost half of all warehouse injuries last year
Mitchell Clark -
The Verge
© Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Amazon workers only make up a third of US warehouse employees, but in 2021, they suffered 49 percent of the injuries for the entire warehouse industry, according to a report by advocacy group Strategic Organizing Center (or SOC). After analyzing data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the union coalition found that Amazon workers are twice as likely to be seriously injured than people who work in warehouses for other companies.
The report considers “serious injuries” to be ones where workers either have to take time off to recover or have their workloads reduced, following OSHA’s report classification (pdf) of “cases with days away from work” and “cases with job transfer or restriction.” The data shows that, over time, the company has been shifting more toward putting people on light duty, rather than having them take time off. The report authors also note that Amazon workers take longer to recover from injuries than employees at other companies: around 62 days on average, versus 44 across the industry.
© Graph: Strategic Organizing Center
A graph showing Amazon’s injury rates over the past five years.
Amazon employees have said it’s not the work itself that’s particularly dangerous but rather the grueling pace the company’s automated systems demand. Amazon actually had workers go slower in 2020 to help combat COVID-19, which accounts for the notably lower injury rates that year. But, as the report notes, the injuries increased by around 20 percent between 2020 and 2021 as the company resumed its usual pace — though the injury rates for 2021 were still lower than they were in 2019.
It’s also worth noting that even with that slowed pace of work in 2020, Amazon has been criticized for how it treated workers in its response to COVID-19, especially in New York, where organizers were motivated to start working toward unionizing at the company’s warehouses. New York Attorney General Letitia James has also filed a suit against Amazon, alleging it failed to protect workers and retaliated against them (which included firing lead organizer Christian Smalls) after they spoke out.
Unfortunately, this study’s results tell the same story we’ve been hearing for years. Even with its reduced injury rates in 2020, Amazon workers were still hurt twice as often as other warehouse workers, according to SOC. Tuesday’s report also shows that Amazon’s human workers (whom it’s called “industrial athletes”) are more at risk for injuries when working at warehouses that have been automated — a fact Amazon knew years ago, according to internal documents. As CNBC points out, Amazon says it wants to become the safest place to work, but the company may need to overhaul its entire system to meet that goal.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment on the report.
Amazon employees have said it’s not the work itself that’s particularly dangerous but rather the grueling pace the company’s automated systems demand. Amazon actually had workers go slower in 2020 to help combat COVID-19, which accounts for the notably lower injury rates that year. But, as the report notes, the injuries increased by around 20 percent between 2020 and 2021 as the company resumed its usual pace — though the injury rates for 2021 were still lower than they were in 2019.
It’s also worth noting that even with that slowed pace of work in 2020, Amazon has been criticized for how it treated workers in its response to COVID-19, especially in New York, where organizers were motivated to start working toward unionizing at the company’s warehouses. New York Attorney General Letitia James has also filed a suit against Amazon, alleging it failed to protect workers and retaliated against them (which included firing lead organizer Christian Smalls) after they spoke out.
Unfortunately, this study’s results tell the same story we’ve been hearing for years. Even with its reduced injury rates in 2020, Amazon workers were still hurt twice as often as other warehouse workers, according to SOC. Tuesday’s report also shows that Amazon’s human workers (whom it’s called “industrial athletes”) are more at risk for injuries when working at warehouses that have been automated — a fact Amazon knew years ago, according to internal documents. As CNBC points out, Amazon says it wants to become the safest place to work, but the company may need to overhaul its entire system to meet that goal.
Amazon didn’t immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment on the report.
Amazon warehouse workers suffer serious injuries at twice the rate of rivals, study finds
There were 6.8 serious injuries for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers, compared with 3.3 serious injuries per 100 workers at all other employers in the warehouse industry, the Strategic Organizing Center wrote in a new report published Tuesday.
Amazon has pledged to become "Earth's Safest Place to Work," with the aim of cutting worker injuries by 50%.
© Provided by CNBC An Amazon warehouse
Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. suffered serious injuries at twice the rate of rival companies in 2021, according to a new study.
There were 6.8 serious injuries for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers. That's more than twice the rate of all other employers in the warehouse industry, which had 3.3 serious injuries per 100 workers, the Strategic Organizing Center said in a report released Tuesday.
The SOC, which is a coalition of labor unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, analyzed data Amazon submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about its warehouses in 2021.
Even as Amazon set its sights on improving workplace safety, including a pledge to become "Earth's Safest Place to Work," injuries at its U.S. warehouses increased between 2020 and 2021.
Amazon reported approximately 38,300 total injuries at its U.S. facilities in 2021, up about 20% from 27,100 injuries in 2020. The vast majority of injuries in 2021 were categorized as serious, or injuries "where workers were hurt so badly that they were either unable to perform their regular job functions (light duty) or forced to miss work entirely (lost time)," according to the report.
Amazon was responsible for a "staggering" amount of worker injuries in the U.S., the report found. In 2021, Amazon accounted for almost half of all injuries in the industry, while making up a third of all U.S. warehouse workers.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel pointed to the company's pandemic-induced hiring spree as one catalyst behind the increase in recordable injuries between 2020 and 2021. Amazon's recordable injury rate last year dropped roughly 13% compared to 2019, Nantel added.
"While we still have more work to do and won't be satisfied until we are excellent when it comes to safety, we continue to make measurable improvements in reducing injuries and keeping employees safe, and appreciate the work from all of our employees and safety teams who are contributing to this effort," Nantel said in a statement.
In January, Amazon disclosed it spent $300 million on worker safety improvements in 2021. It said the rate of employees who missed work due to a workplace injury dropped by 43% in 2020 from the prior year.
Still, Amazon has faced pressure from lawmakers and its own employees to address the breakneck pace of work inside its warehouses. Last fall, California's state Senate passed a landmark bill aimed at curbing Amazon's use of productivity quotas in its facilities.
Warehouse and delivery workers have routinely spoken out against the company, arguing its "customer obsession" and focus on speedy delivery have created an unsafe working environment. They've claimed the pace of work doesn't allow for adequate breaks and bathroom time.
Those concerns have come into greater focus as unionization efforts have ramped up at Amazon warehouses. This month, Amazon workers on New York's Staten Island voted to form the first union at an Amazon warehouse. The union has called for Amazon to put in place "more reasonable" productivity rates in the warehouse, among other demands.
Last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos laid out a vision for improving the company's workplace safety, acknowledging it needed "a better vision for our employees' success." Amazon also launched a series of wellness programs, with the aim of cutting recordable incident rates by 50% by 2025.
Annie Palmer -
Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. suffered serious injuries at twice the rate of rival companies in 2021, according to a new study.
Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. suffered serious injuries at twice the rate of rival companies in 2021, according to a new study.
There were 6.8 serious injuries for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers, compared with 3.3 serious injuries per 100 workers at all other employers in the warehouse industry, the Strategic Organizing Center wrote in a new report published Tuesday.
Amazon has pledged to become "Earth's Safest Place to Work," with the aim of cutting worker injuries by 50%.
© Provided by CNBC An Amazon warehouse
Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. suffered serious injuries at twice the rate of rival companies in 2021, according to a new study.
There were 6.8 serious injuries for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers. That's more than twice the rate of all other employers in the warehouse industry, which had 3.3 serious injuries per 100 workers, the Strategic Organizing Center said in a report released Tuesday.
The SOC, which is a coalition of labor unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, analyzed data Amazon submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about its warehouses in 2021.
Even as Amazon set its sights on improving workplace safety, including a pledge to become "Earth's Safest Place to Work," injuries at its U.S. warehouses increased between 2020 and 2021.
Amazon reported approximately 38,300 total injuries at its U.S. facilities in 2021, up about 20% from 27,100 injuries in 2020. The vast majority of injuries in 2021 were categorized as serious, or injuries "where workers were hurt so badly that they were either unable to perform their regular job functions (light duty) or forced to miss work entirely (lost time)," according to the report.
Amazon was responsible for a "staggering" amount of worker injuries in the U.S., the report found. In 2021, Amazon accounted for almost half of all injuries in the industry, while making up a third of all U.S. warehouse workers.
In a statement, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel pointed to the company's pandemic-induced hiring spree as one catalyst behind the increase in recordable injuries between 2020 and 2021. Amazon's recordable injury rate last year dropped roughly 13% compared to 2019, Nantel added.
"While we still have more work to do and won't be satisfied until we are excellent when it comes to safety, we continue to make measurable improvements in reducing injuries and keeping employees safe, and appreciate the work from all of our employees and safety teams who are contributing to this effort," Nantel said in a statement.
In January, Amazon disclosed it spent $300 million on worker safety improvements in 2021. It said the rate of employees who missed work due to a workplace injury dropped by 43% in 2020 from the prior year.
Still, Amazon has faced pressure from lawmakers and its own employees to address the breakneck pace of work inside its warehouses. Last fall, California's state Senate passed a landmark bill aimed at curbing Amazon's use of productivity quotas in its facilities.
Warehouse and delivery workers have routinely spoken out against the company, arguing its "customer obsession" and focus on speedy delivery have created an unsafe working environment. They've claimed the pace of work doesn't allow for adequate breaks and bathroom time.
Those concerns have come into greater focus as unionization efforts have ramped up at Amazon warehouses. This month, Amazon workers on New York's Staten Island voted to form the first union at an Amazon warehouse. The union has called for Amazon to put in place "more reasonable" productivity rates in the warehouse, among other demands.
Last year, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos laid out a vision for improving the company's workplace safety, acknowledging it needed "a better vision for our employees' success." Amazon also launched a series of wellness programs, with the aim of cutting recordable incident rates by 50% by 2025.
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