Amazon Warehouses Fail to Report High Injury Numbers
The lucrative company does not correctly report injury and illness rates, as told by a report in The Center for Investigative Reporting’s The Reveal.
- By Nikki Johnson-Bolden
- Oct 12, 2020
Injury rates among Amazon Inc. warehouse workers are higher than the company discloses to the public, according to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette.
A recent report published on The Reveal cites high injury occurrences at warehouses, especially during Amazon’s Prime week and the holidays. One location in Washington had a rate of injuries of 22 per 100 employees, which is five times the average industry rate for the industry.
This information comes after the company was fined in 2015 for failure to report 26 work-related injuries and illnesses in a New Jersey warehouse and issued a hazard alert letter by OSHA. Amazon pledged to lower its injury rate by 20% back in 2018, but the rate has reportedly continued to rise.
Amazon was also involved in a lawsuit over withholding injury and illness logs mandated by the government in September 2019.
More information about OSHA’s warehouse safety guidelines can be found at osha.gov.
About the Author
Nikki Johnson-Bolden is an Associate Content Editor for Occupational Health & Safety.