Amazon Prime Day "Major Cause Of Injuries" For Workers: Senate

Amazon’s warehouses are especially dangerous for workers during the company’s annual Prime Day event, as well as the holiday season, according to an investigation by the US Senate, Olesya Dmitracova reported for CNN.

The report makes public, for the first time, the company’s internal data on warehouse injury rates. I Photo: Amazon

Prime Day, held on Tuesday and Wednesday this year, is “a major cause of injuries for the warehouse workers who make it possible,” said a report by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, published Monday, noting “the extremely unsafe conditions in Amazon warehouses” during the two peak periods.

The report called on the company to do more to protect warehouse workers.

During its ongoing investigation, the committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders, found that Prime Day and the holiday season are characterized by an “extremely high volume” of work and “intense pressure to work long hours and ignore safety guidelines.”

The report makes public, for the first time, the company’s internal data on warehouse injury rates.

The data show that during Prime Day 2019 the rate of “recordable” injuries — those Amazon is required to disclose to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) — exceeded 10 per 100 workers, more than double the average in the US warehousing and storage industry.