Report finds Amazon aware of warehouse injury risks

An investigation led by Senator Bernie Sanders has found that Amazon pushes its US warehouse workers to fulfill orders faster, which can lead to higher rates of injury despite being aware of the risks.

conclusionFollowing an 18-month investigation into the company, it has backed up claims that workers and labor campaigners have made about the company over the years.

The report accused the company of rejecting changes that would have reduced worker mobility but improved safety over concerns about its bottom line.

but amazon Said The report was “incorrect in substance”, and contained “selective, outdated information that lacked context and was not based in reality”.

“This investigation was not a fact-finding mission, but an effort to gather information and twist it to support a false narrative,” the company said.

Amazon, which employs about 800,000 people in the US, has faced allegations of unsafe conditions in its warehouses for years.

These concerns were heightened during the COVID pandemic, when e-commerce exploded, leading to protests by workers around the world.

Amid the controversy, founder Jeff Bezos said that the company needs to improve its employees.

Senator Sanders, known for his pro-labor stance, An investigation into Amazon’s practices was launched in June 2023. Senate staff conducted 135 interviews and reviewed more than 1,000 documents.

Their analysis of public records found that warehouses operated by Amazon recorded 30% more injuries in 2023 than the warehousing industry average.

Amazon workers were nearly twice as likely to be injured over the past seven years as people working in warehouses operated by other companies, according to the report, which was signed by Democratic members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor Were. And pension.

According to the investigation, Amazon had internally examined the connection between workplace speeds and injury rates, including a review called Project Soteria.

But the report said the company chose not to adopt the recommended changes, which included providing workers with more time off and stopping disciplinary action against those who did not meet work pace requirements.

Investigators also accused Amazon of trying to “manipulate” the data to mislead the public about its safety record.

Amazon said it was appropriate for the company to focus the security comparison on large warehouses.

It accused the Senate investigation of ignoring inconvenient facts, such as a decline in its injury rates and a recent court victory that dismissed safety complaints.

It said another team had been asked to review the recommendations of Amazon’s internal security study and had found that the methodology was “messy.”

“Nothing is more important to our company than employee safety,” Amazon said.

“Sen. Sanders and his staff chose to rely on the debunked Soteria analysis because it fit the false narrative they wanted to create,” the company said.