The most recent example of double digit growth likely isn't one that Amazon is eager to tell shareholders. Amazon recorded a 20% increase in its overall injury rate between 2020 and 2021. Amazon workers were involved in almost half of all warehouse worker injuries last year. Amazon is the king of workplace injuries. A new report from the Strategic Organizing Center analyzed injury data submitted to the OSHA for the year 2021. The report found that Amazon workers were exposed to more risk than other warehouse workers. The serious injury rate for Amazon workers was more than double the rate for non-Amazon workers. Workers were either left unable to perform their normal functions or forced to miss work because of the severe injuries. Despite previous claims from the company that more automation would lead to increased safety for its human workers, injury rates were higher at Amazon's largely automatic, robotic warehouse than their less automated sites. Amazon workers needed 19 more days to recover from their injuries than workers at non-Amazon warehouse facilities. An Amazon spokesman acknowledged the rise in injuries but said it was partly the result of the company training a record number of new hires.
We saw an increase in recordable injuries during this time from 2020 to 2021 as we trained so many new people, but our recordable injury rate declined more than a year ago.
Amazon has a high injury rate in part due to its emphasis on speed. Since the beginning of the Pandemic, consumer demand for goods has skyrocketed. Amazon has hired a record number of new employees and has built a system of on-site monitoring and productivity trackers to keep a steady flow of orders.
The cost of that efficiency has been high for Amazon workers. Amazon's injury rates have increased every year since the beginning of the year, with the exception of 2020, according to the analysis. According to the Strategic Organizing Center, multiple inspectors OSHA cited Amazon productivity monitoring techniques and high pace of work as contributors to the company's high injury rates.
For years, Amazon workers and outside critics have spoken out against the company's use of automated tracking software and other productivity practices.
The company's upper management doesn't always agree with those concerns. Jeff Bezos proposed a novel solution to Amazon's injury problem as one of his final acts as CEO before handing over the reins to Andy Jassy. The world's second richest man suggested in a letter to shareholders that Amazon should use sophisticated software to precisely monitor workers, instead of giving them longer breaks or reducing production expectations.
Amazon's unflattering workplace safety figures come as some of its employees take matters into their own hands. The first of its kind at the company, a group of warehouse workers in Staten Island voted to form a union, a blow to the place that had fought tooth and nail. The Amazon Labor Union was formed as a direct response to unsafe working conditions and inhumane workplace monitoring apparatuses.
Amazon objected to the Staten Island warehouse vote. According to Amazon, union organizers threatened employees with losing their benefits if they didn't vote for the union. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union accused Amazon of interfering with a warehouse union vote in Alabama.
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