Amazon's warehouses were so dangerous that nearly half of workers were injured during busy periods such as Prime Day.
The U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee released an interim report stating that Amazon warehouses are creating extremely dangerous working conditions during peak seasons and that the company is aware of this but has not taken any measures to prevent it.
PEAK SEASONS, PEAK INJURIES: Amazon Warehouses Are Especially Dangerous During Prime Day and the Holiday Season—and the Company Knows It
(PDF file)
The report released by the HELP Committee is titled ' Peak Season and Rising Injuries: Amazon's warehouses are especially dangerous on Prime Day and the holiday season, and the company knows it .'
Amazon Prime Day is a major event that is one of Amazon's main sources of revenue, and in 2024 it
The HELP Committee interviewed more than 100 current and former Amazon employees about the working conditions at the warehouses, and found that Amazon sets unsustainable work efficiency standards, that minor injuries such as bruises and abrasions are common, but also serious injuries such as torn tendons and concussions are common, and that the Prime Day and holiday seasons are particularly dangerous.
Specifically, there are testimonies such as, 'Usually, the number of packages I was responsible for was 60,000, but during busy periods, that doubled to 120,000,' and 'After working 12 hours, I was asked to take a seven-hour break and then work another 12 hours straight.'
In particular, there have been reports of workers completely ignoring safety regulations during peak periods. When additional conveyor belts were installed in the weeks leading up to Prime Day, they were supposed to have an automatic stop function when the belts were jammed or overloaded, but the automatic stop function was omitted to avoid reducing work efficiency.
The graph below shows the injury rates at Amazon warehouses in 2019 and 2020, as reported in the report. The purple areas are peak periods, where injury rates are particularly high.
On Prime Day 2019, the incidence of injuries reportable to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was more than 10 per 100 workers, more than double the industry average , but the total injury rate, including non-reportable injuries, was more than 45 per 100 workers, meaning nearly half of warehouse workers suffered some kind of injury.
'These figures are egregious, given the enormous profits Amazon generates and the resources it has to provide safe working conditions for its workers,' the HELP Committee said.
HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders had expressed concerns to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on June 20, 2023 about forcing workers to work at speeds that could cause serious injury, but in releasing this interim report, he called on Amazon to take further measures to protect warehouse workers.
Kelly Nantel, a spokesperson for Amazon, said the report ignores Amazon's past efforts.
Amazon's Prime Day causes worker injuries, Senate probe finds
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/16/amazons-prime-day-causes-worker-injuries-senate-probe-finds.html
According to Nantel, 'The report is based on inaccurate and definitive inferences based on unsubstantiated anecdotes, factual errors, and flawed analysis based on documents from several years ago. 'Since 2019, Amazon has reduced the rate of accidents requiring first aid by 28% and the rate of serious accidents that required workers to take at least one day off work by 75%.
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