A year-long investigation alleges the sales event is a “major cause” of warehouse worker injuries.
Topline
Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event is a “major cause” of injuries among the e-commerce giant’s warehouse workers, a Senate committee alleged on Tuesday, following a year-long investigation into workplace safety at Amazon’s facilities.Key Facts
During the Prime Day event in 2019, Amazon’s rate of recordable injuries—or injuries the company is required to disclose to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration—was over 10 injuries per 100 workers, a rate that is more than double the industry average, according to a report released Tuesday by the Senate’s health, education, labor and pension committee
Amazon’s total injury rate, which includes injuries the company isn’t required to disclose to OSHA, was just under 45 injuries per 100 workers, the committee said.
A spokesperson for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who chairs the committee, told The the report relied on injury data from 2019 and 2020 because that’s what Amazon provided for the investigation.
Employers in the U.S. are required to notify OSHA of workplace injuries that result in hospitalization, amputation or loss of an eye within 24 hours, according to the agency.
