Amazon Injuries Accounted for Half of all Warehouse Injuries in 2021, Study Says

Seattle, WA (WorkersCompensation.com) – A new study has found that injuries to Amazon workers accounted for almost half the injuries in the warehouse industry in 2021, even though the company only makes up a third of all U.S. warehouse workers. 

In a study by Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), researchers found that Amazon had a serious injury rate of 6.8 injuries for every 100 Amazon warehouse workers. The study said the rate of serious injuries for the warehouse industry was 3.3 injuries per every 100 workers. 

Despite calling itself “Earth’s Safest Place to Work,” the study found that Amazon reported approximately 38,300 total injuries across its U.S. facilities in 2021, up by 20 percent from 27,100 injuries in 2020. 

The SOC is a coalition of labor unions including the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the Service Employees International Union, and analyzed data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration from Amazon about its warehouses and injury rates in 2021. 

According to the study, the vast majority of the injuries at its warehouses were classified as “serious” or injuries “where workers were hurt so badly that they were either unable to perform their regular job functions (light duty) or forced to miss work entirely (lost time).” 

Rachel Walla-Housman, an occupational health and safety expert and CEO of Ally Safety, said some of the injuries could be contributed to the company’s hiring trends. 

“In 2020, Amazon hired a huge number of employees,” she said in an interview with WorkersCompensation.com. “We know that the new hired have massive amount of injury accidents in the first year of employment.” 

Kelly Nantel, spokesperson with Amazon, told CNBC that prior to the pandemic, the company had seen injury rates drop roughly 13 percent. 

“While we still have more work to do and won’t be satisfied until we are excellent when it comes to safety, we continue to make measurable improvements in reducing injuries and keeping employees safe, and appreciate the work from all of our employees and safety teams who are contributing to this effort,” Nantel said in a statement. 

In a safety report, released in January, Amazon said it had invested more than $300 million on worker safety improvements in 2020, which resulted in a drop of about 43 percent in the rate of employees missing work due to a workplace injury.

“Our safety performance is possible because of the drive of our operations managers, employees, and our nearly 8,000 safety professionals,” the company said in the report. “This committed team uses the science of safety to solve complex problems and establish new industry best practices. We are often asked about our performance expectations and whether they can coexist with safe operations. The answer is yes—we continually strive  to optimize our operations for safety and productivity.” 

Walla-Housman said employers could reduce the rate of injury to their own employees by treating their employees as “industrial athletes,” and paying attention to what employees are doing and how they are doing it. 

With musculoskeletal injuries as the number one cause of injuries in the workplace, she said, things like repetition, bending and straining are important to pay attention to. 

In the warehouse industry, she said, paying attention to how to engineer a process may be one way to reduce injuries. Additionally, she said, listening to employees about how they are getting hurt and when they are getting hurt, is an important way to reduce injuries. 

“When you want to be good at safety, you’ll want your employees to report accidents and injuries,” she said. “Of course, naturally, you’re going to see those injury rate go up. But if your employee comes to you and says they have a sore shoulder, you need to take care of that and determine what happened.” 

Employers can also pay attention to injuries to the hands, she said. With so many injuries happening to the hands, she said, it’s important to pay attention to how employees are using tools, like boxcutter, to make the workplace safer.

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