Amazon warehouse employees are injured at larger charges than these at rival corporations, in line with a brand new examine.
In 2020, there have been 5.9 severe accidents for each 100 Amazon warehouse employees, which is sort of 80% larger than the intense harm price at non-Amazon warehouses, the Strategic Organizing Center wrote in a new report published Tuesday. The SOC stated severe accidents embody any accidents that require workers to both miss work fully, often called “lost time injuries,” or be positioned on gentle or restricted responsibility.
The SOC, which is a coalition of labor unions together with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, analyzed just lately launched knowledge reported by Amazon to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration overlaying work-related accidents between 2017 and 2020.
Amazon’s 2020 harm charges have been larger than Walmart, one in every of its closest retail rivals. Amazon’s total harm price in 2020 was 6.5 circumstances for each 100 employees, in line with the examine. That’s greater than twice that of Walmart, which reported three circumstances for each 100 workers in 2020.
Separately, The Washington Post on Tuesday revealed an evaluation of OSHA knowledge, which confirmed that Amazon’s severe harm charges are almost double that of non-Amazon warehouses.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel informed CNBC in a press release that the corporate in 2020 spent greater than $1 billion on initiatives like “WorkingWell,” a program that goals to raised educate workers on easy methods to keep away from office accidents, and in addition affords psychological well being and diet steerage; in addition to on coronavirus security measures, reminiscent of offering employees with private protecting tools. The firm additionally employs greater than 6,200 folks on its office well being and security group, Nantel stated.
“While any incident is one too many, we are continuously learning and seeing improvements through ergonomics programs, guided exercises at employees’ workstations, mechanical assistance equipment, workstation setup and design, and forklift telematics and guardrails — to name a few,” Nantel stated in a press release.
Representatives from Walmart did not reply to a request for remark.
Amazon has just lately taken steps to enhance its office security packages because it faces rising scrutiny from workers, advocacy teams and politicians over working situations at warehouses earlier than and through the pandemic.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos recently admitted the corporate wants “to do a better job for our employees” and vowed to make Amazon the world’s “best employer.” Last month, Amazon reiterated its goal to chop employee accidents by 50% by 2025. Amazon additionally plans to take a position greater than $300 million this yr in security initiatives.
Amazon’s well being and security packages have centered, partly, on ergonomics, tools enhancements and, extra just lately, concentrating on work-related accidents tied to musculoskeletal problems. Amazon stated all these accidents, sometimes issues like sprains or strains from repetitive motions, fell by 32% between 2019 and 2020. Serious MSDs that resulted in time away from work decreased by greater than half, the corporate stated.
But Amazon employees, former OSHA officers and union representatives informed the Post that Amazon’s productiveness quotas are partly in charge for rising harm charges. The firm requires warehouse employees to choose, pack and stow a sure variety of objects per hour.
Injury charges at Amazon warehouses have been decrease in 2020 in contrast with earlier years, the SOC discovered. The decline was possible a results of Amazon temporarily pausing performance tracking for a part of final yr to present employees extra time to scrub and sanitize their fingers amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Much of the dialogue round office security at Amazon has centered on workers of its sprawling warehouse operations. The SOC examine additionally recognized that harm charges throughout Amazon’s contracted supply community are larger than these in its success facilities.
Amazon’s supply service companions, or DSPs, are contracted corporations, normally distinguishable by Amazon-branded cargo vans, which can be answerable for selecting up packages from Amazon supply stations and dropping them off at doorsteps. Because they don’t seem to be thought-about workers of Amazon, the corporate would not report harm charges amongst drivers.
In 2019 and 2020, at the least 129 DSPs filed harm data to OSHA that cowl greater than 6,000 employees, in line with the examine. The SOC discovered that these DSPs reported harm charges of 14 and 13.3, respectively, per 100 employees. Additionally, nearly all of accidents reported by DSPs in 2019 and 2020 have been extreme, requiring workers to take break day work to recuperate, the SOC stated.
