Newsletter
It’s no secret that Amazon’s warehouse safety standards and employee working conditions have been a matter of concern for some time now. However, Amazon has now found itself in hot water, as the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee is investigating the company’s alleged warehouse safety practices.
The letter sent by Senate HELP Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders accuses Amazon of prioritizing profits above all else, resulting in unsafe working environments for warehouse staff and inadequate access to medical care. Additionally, the letter highlights Amazon’s knowledge of these working conditions and intentional disregard for them, reflecting a corporate culture that treats employees as expendable.
Furthermore, the letter references data from the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of North American labor unions, which characterizes Amazon’s safety record as exceptionally hazardous. This is because, in the past year alone, warehouse workers experienced nearly 39,000 injuries, with 95% of them being severe enough to require time off work or modified duties. Moreover, Amazon’s warehouses reported a serious injury rate of 6.6 injuries per 100 workers, more than double the rate reported in non-Amazon warehouses.
Amazon’s response
In response to Sanders’ letter, Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, stated, “Our critics can manipulate data to fit their narrative, but the truth is that we’ve made progress, as evident from our numbers. Since 2019, we have reduced our rate of recordable injuries across our global network by over 23%, and our Lost Time Incident Rate has decreased by 53%. These facts are easily verifiable by examining the data we report to OSHA.”
Despite the company’s response, Sanders has demanded that CEO Jassy provide more information on Amazon’s rates of injury and employee turnover, as well as data regarding the company’s on-site medical clinic called AMCARE, dating back to 2019. Additionally, he also seeks clarification on whether Amazon has conducted any internal or third-party investigations into the potential relationship between the pace of work in its warehouses and the prevalence or cost of injuries. Lastly, Amazon has until July 5 to respond to Sanders’ warehouse safety inquiries.