Amazon employed 33% of all US warehouse workers in 2021 but was responsible for 49% of all injuries in the industry, according to a report released Tuesday by the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of four unions.
The SOC, composed of the Service Employees International Union, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Communications Workers of America and the United Farmworkers of America, analyzed the 2021 injury data submitted by Amazon to the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
In 2021, there were a total of 38,334 reportable injuries at Amazon facilities, of which approximately 34,000 were considered serious injuries when workers were unable to perform their regular job or had to be absent from work as a result.
According to the report, Amazon reported 6.8 serious injuries for every 100 of its warehouse workers. By comparison, other warehouses reported 3.3 serious injuries per 100 workers, the report said. Injury rates are calculated as the sum of rates at individual sites.
The SOC report comes amid heightened attention to workplace conditions at Amazon’s facilities. Earlier this month, workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City became the first to unionize in the country’s 27-year history. Union efforts were catalyzed by tensions between Amazon and its warehouse workers during the unprecedented public health crisis, in which some vocal workers and employee representatives expressed concern that the company was putting profit and productivity ahead of safety. Meanwhile, Amazon’s handling of workplace safety comes under scrutiny in its home state of Washington, where last month the Department of Labor and Industry issued a rare “willfully aggravated” subpoena and a $60,000 fine to Amazon for cheating its employees knowingly placed himself at serious risk of injury in violation of occupational safety laws. Amazon has said it strongly disagrees with the claims and plans to appeal the quote. The latest SOC report follows a June 2021 report by the same group which examined similar data from 2017 to 2020 and also found Amazon warehouses to be more dangerous than other facilities.
The new report, which finds that injury rates in the company’s robotic camps remain higher than in non-robot camps, found a notable decrease in injuries in 2020 compared to the previous year. The report cites Amazon’s temporary relaxation of productivity tracking in the early months of the pandemic as a possible contributor.
In a statement accompanying the SOC report, Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the company had “hired tens of thousands of additional employees to help us meet the unforeseen demand of Covid-19.”
“Like other companies in the industry, we saw an increase in reportable injuries during this period of 2020-2021 because we trained so many new employees – however, compared to 2021 and 2019, our reportable injury rate is down more than 13% year-on-year ‘ said Nantel.
The SOC report shows that last year’s injury rate was the second highest in the company’s past five years, with 2019 recording the highest rate.
“While we have more work to do and will not be satisfied until we excel at safety, we continue to make measurable improvements in injury reduction and employee safety and appreciate the work of all our employees and safety teams, contributing to these efforts,” said Nantel.
A year ago, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declared his desire to make Amazon the “safest place to work on earth.” Amazon announced it was giving it out last year $300 million for safety-related projects, including launching an initiative called WorkingWell to provide “physical and mental activities, wellness exercises, and healthy eating support that are scientifically proven to help them recover and re-energize, and ultimately that.” reduce risk of injury. ” WorkingWell, according to the company, would contribute to its goal Halve reportable injuries by 2025. Meanwhile, earlier this month, the House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, demanding documents about the company’s labor practices, after six employees were killed while working at an Illinois distribution center in December by one Tornado. OSHA is also investigating the deaths at the facility, and one of the families is suing the company.