The risk of workplace injuries is extremely high for Amazon warehouse workers during Prime Day rushes and the demanding holiday season, according to a US Senate committee report.
Amazon Workers sweat to fill Prime Day orders
Authored by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) for the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the investigative report [PDF] claimed that Amazon's annual Prime Day sale is "a major cause of injury to warehouse workers who make it possible ."
The HELP committee, chaired by Sanders, has not yet completed its investigation into the online super-souk, which began last year, but revealed some of its findings so far, with publication likely timed to coincide with Amazon Prime Day 2024.
The panel's interim report is mainly focused on data from Prime Day 2019, and claimed that Amazon reported an injury rate of about ten percent — 10 workers injured per 100 — to the nation's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which would be twice the industry average. However, the committee said that figure only covers the injuries that Amazon was required to report to OSHA and argued that the overall injury rate was about 45 percent, or 45 per 100. The injury rate was similar for the holiday season, the report said, and argued that this was based on internal Amazon data.
