Amazon failed to properly record work-related injuries at warehouses in five states, a federal agency said Friday, announcing it had issued more than a dozen citations in the course of its ongoing investigation of the company.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it handed out 14 citations during inspections over the summer at six Amazon warehouses in New York, Florida, Illinois, Colorado and Idaho.
The citations were for failing to record or misclassify injuries and illnesses, not recording them within the required time and not “timely” recording such matters to the agency, OSHA said. The e-commerce giant, which made more than $33 billion last year, faces about $29,000 in fines.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a prepared statement that the company is investing millions in a “robust safety program” to protect workers.
“Accurate record keeping is a critical part of that program and while we recognize that there may have been a small number of administrative errors over the years, we are confident in the numbers we have reported to the government,” Nantel said. pleased OSHA acknowledged that “all alleged violations are ‘other than serious’ and are minor violations.”
Seattle-based Amazon has long faced criticism over its workplace accident rate, which the company itself has acknowledged is higher than the industry average in some cases. Earlier this year, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said that while the company’s data shows injury rates for its delivery and courier workers were lower than average, injury rates for its warehouse workers were higher compared to its peers.
Labor and safety experts have criticized the company’s tracking of productivity levels of workers who pack and put away packages, saying the warehouses’ fast-paced environment could contribute to higher injury rates. Amazon has said it has no productivity quotas and only rates its employees in comparison to their peers.
The citations stem from referrals to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office in New York, said the office’s civil division and OHSA were investigating the possible safety of workers at Amazon warehouses and “possible fraudulent behavior to hide injuries from OSHA and others.” The law firm has encouraged former and current Amazon employees to report security issues directly to them.
Photo: (TBEN Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
Copyright 2022 The Bharat Express News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
subjects
Workers Compensation Amazon
