Workers at Amazon warehouses in the U.S. are injured at a much higher rate than those working similar jobs at other companies, according to a recent report from the Strategic Organizing Center, a coalition of labor unions.
BBC News reports that a union-backed study of safety data claims that Amazon workers had 5.9 serious injuries per 100 people, almost 80 percent higher than the rest of the industry. The study’s organizers blamed Amazon’s “obsession with speed” as the main cause of the issue.
The new study comes from the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), which is a coalition of labor unions. Amazon faced criticism earlier this year for falsely denying that its drivers are forced to urinate in plastic bottles.
The new study found that “workers at Amazon warehouses are not only injured more frequently than in non-Amazon warehouses, they are also injured more severely.” Workers that are forced to take time off for injuries were absent for an average of 46.3 days, a week longer than the average across the warehouse industry, according to the report.
Compared to its largest retail competitor, Walmart, Amazon’s overall injury rate was more than double at 6.5 per 100 employees compared with just 3 at Walmart.
The SOC characterized its report as an “epidemic of workplace injuries.” In a statement, Amazon said that it invested more than $1 billion in workplace safety last year.
“While any incident is one too many, we are continuously learning and seeing improvements through ergonomics programs, guided exercises at employees’ workstations, mechanical assistance equipment, workstation setup and design, and forklift telematics and guardrails – to name a few,” a spokesman said.
Read more at BBC News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.