Amazon has been fined $60,000 for putting workers at risk at its massive warehouse in Kent.
The dangers were attributed to Amazon's well-known productivity quota. The agency said in a statement that working in one of the retailer's fulfillment centers requires a number of repetitive motions, such as bending, lifting and twisting, at a fast pace that it increases the risk of injury.
The violation was classified as a more serious category than usual because they had already cited Amazon for similar problems. The state evaluated a dozen work processes inside the Kent facility and found 10 of them to be hazardous.
The company has not yet made necessary changes to improve workplace safety and has denied the association between pace of work and injury rates.
The fine may seem small for a retail giant that had $14.3 billion in profits last quarter, but workplace safety penalties in the U.S. tend to be small by statute. The penalty for a citation like the one issued against Amazon in Washington state is usually $70,000.
A request for comment was not immediately responded to by Amazon. Within 15 days, the company has the right to dispute the citation, as well as the three other citations issued by the state. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is a state equivalent of the agency that issued the fines.
“The company’s merciless focus on volume and work pace, coupled with constant surveillance of its employees, directly puts workers’ health and safety at risk.”
- Eric Frumin, Strategic Organizing Center
Amazon has two months to come up with a plan to address the safety issues. Washington's labor department gave HuffPost a citation that offers 11 recommendations to Amazon, including using special equipment to reduce awkward lifting and rotating workers among job tasks.
As they pick, pack and ship out orders to customers, Amazon workers are closely monitored for their work productivity. The retailer has insisted that its expectations are safe, but many workers and advocacy groups have complained that the pressure to meet quota can lead to injury and burnout.
The citation showed that the company was under more scrutiny, according to the Strategic Organizing Center.
Eric Frumin, the group's health officer, said that the company's focus on volume and work pace puts workers' health and safety at risk.
Amazon concealed higher-than-publicly-known injury rates according to a 2020 investigation. The retailer has come under fire for its time off policy that penalizes workers for time spent away from the workplace, and it announced last year that it would change the metric to be less punishing.
California implemented a new law last year that forbids companies from implementing work rates that prevent workers from using the bathroom. The bill applies to all large warehouses in the state, but its sponsor pointed out the world's largest online retailer when the governor signed it.
The work pace is one of the reasons the union supporters in Alabama want to bargain collectively with Amazon. The company defeated a union drive at its Alabama warehouse last year, but labor officials later determined that Amazon had broken the law by interfering in the election. There is a do-over election.
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