Amazon Prime Day ‘major cause of injuries’ for workers, Senate finds
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.”
CNN has contacted Amazon (AMZN) for comment.
The report makes public, for the first time, the company’s internal data on warehouse injury rates. The data shows that during Prime Day 2019 the rate of “recordable” injuries — those Amazon is required to disclose to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — exceeded 10 per 100 workers, more than double the average in the US warehousing and storage industry.
But Amazon’s total injury rate, which includes injuries the company does not have to report to OSHA, was just under 45 per 100 workers, the report said.
“These injury rates are especially egregious in light of the incredible revenue the company generates and the resources it has available to make its warehouses safe for workers,” it added.
Amazon raked in $12.7 billion in sales on July 11 and 12 last year, its Prime Day 2023 event, and said July 11 was the single biggest sales day in the company’s history. For the first three months of 2024, the e-commerce giant reported a profit of $10.4 billion.
In a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy last year, Sanders wrote: “Amazon must stop pushing workers past their limits... In its endless pursuit of profits, Amazon sacrifices workers’ bodies under the constant pressure of a surveillance system that enforces impossible rates (of work). When faced with worker injuries, Amazon provides minimal medical care.”
Over the years, some Amazon workers have described the “grueling” experience of long hours racing around warehouses that can be the size of 28 football fields while the company tracks their every move.
Amazon holds Prime Day in July every year to juice sales numbers during what are typically slow summer months.
The tech giant, Amazon, has received criticism from Senator Bernie Sanders for its handling of warehouse safety during high-volume periods like Prime Day and the holiday season, which are characterized by intense pressure to work long hours and disregard safety guidelines. The tech business, with its vast resources, should prioritize the well-being of its workers, as the report suggests, due to the alarmingly high injury rates during these periods.
