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A worker moves packages inside an Amazon fulfillment center in Dupont, Wash. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)
A new congressional report found that Amazon “knowingly puts its workers at risk of injury” in the latest critique of the company’s treatment of warehouse employees.
The 160-page report, published Sunday by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, alleges that Amazon manipulated injury data, disregarded internal safety research, and discouraged injured employees from seeking external medical care.
It also accuses Amazon of prioritizing productivity over worker safety, resulting in significantly higher injury rates than the industry average.
Amazon strongly denied the allegations in a response posted to its company blog and in a statement to GeekWire. It noted that the report came from Sen. Sanders and was not issued by the HELP Committee.
“Sen. Sanders’ report is wrong on the facts and weaves together out-of-date documents and unverifiable anecdotes to create a pre-conceived narrative that he and his allies have been pushing for the past 18 months,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.
Amazon said it cooperated with the committee’s investigation and shared documents and other information, though the report notes that the company “provided extremely limited information.”
The Seattle-based tech giant pointed to a recent ruling in Washington state that vacated citations alleging that the company’s warehouses were a hazardous place of work.
“The judge determined there was no persuasive evidence that our employees’ ‘pace of work’ is ergonomically hazardous,” Nantel said. “Sen. Sanders ignores that determination presumably because it doesn’t fit his false and discredited narrative about Amazon’s safety record.”
According to the committee’s report, Amazon warehouses recorded injury rates nearly double the industry average over the past seven years. Internal studies recommended measures like slowing the pace of work and adding breaks to reduce repetitive motion injuries. These recommendations were rejected due to concerns over productivity and the “customer experience,” the report claims.
The report used more than 130 interviews with workers and cited company documents.
Amazon’s treatment of logistics employees has been under the microscope for years. Federal and state regulators, labor unions, and Amazon shareholders have repeatedly raised red flags about the company’s warehouse injury rates. Amazon has cited safety improvements, and it recently boosted hourly pay again.
In its statement, Amazon said “our expectations for our employees are safe and reasonable,” noting that it has improved its recordable incident rates by 28% since 2019.
