Labor

Report: Amazon warehouse injuries surpass other facilities in NY

Worker advocates are pushing a bill meant to reduce injuries among warehouse employees.

Prop boxes at an anti-Amazon protest in 2018.

Prop boxes at an anti-Amazon protest in 2018. Emil Cohen/New York City Council

The worker injury rate at Amazon warehouses and logistics facilities continues to outpace that of non-Amazon facilities in New York, according to a new report by the National Employment Law Project shared exclusively with City & State.

Drawing on injury data reported by employers to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the report found that Amazon workers in the state are injured at a rate of 8.2 cases per 100 workers in 2022. That’s compared to a rate of 6.9 cases per 100 workers at non-Amazon facilities in New York. The majority of those injuries and illnesses – at Amazon and non-Amazon facilities – result in the employee having to take time away from work, face restricted duties or be transferred. The report adds that these generally more serious injuries are higher at Amazon facilities than at non-Amazon facilities.

Last year, a study from the National Employment Law Project reported similar findings, though the injury rate at Amazon facilities in New York declined slightly in 2022, from 9 injuries per 100 workers in 2021.

Irene Tung, a senior researcher and policy analyst at the National Employment Law Project, called that decline “negligible.” “I think the fact that these injury rates are persistently high despite the fact that there have been active OSHA investigations in several of these facilities in New York state, despite the fact that Amazon is making claims about steps that it's taking, they clearly have not taken the steps that are necessary to really address the injury crisis at its root.” 

“We know there will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made and that’s detailed in our safety report, which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019,” Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel said in an emailed comment in response to the report. “We’ve invested more than $1 billion into safety initiatives, projects, and programs in the last four years, and we’ll continue investing and inventing in this area because nothing is more important than our employees’ safety.” Amazon also objected to the report’s description of injuries that result in the employee having to take time away from work, face restricted duties or be transferred as “serious injuries,” saying that the metric can include relatively minor injuries.

The report comes on the heels of recent OSHA citations of Amazon facilities in New York and other states. An Amazon distribution center in the Hudson Valley and an Amazon fulfillment center near Albany received citations along with four others earlier this year for failing to keep workers safe and exposing them to a high risk of lower back injuries and other musculoskeletal disorders. Those six facilities previously received citations from OSHA for recordkeeping violations, including failing to properly log injuries. 

Amazon has said that the company disagrees with OSHA’s findings and has implemented measures to mitigate the risk of injuries. “We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously, and we don’t believe the government’s allegations reflect the reality of safety at our sites,” Lynch Vogel said in an emailed comment. “We’ve cooperated with the government through its investigation and have demonstrated how we work to mitigate risks and keep our people safe, and our publicly available data show we reduced injury rates in the U.S. by 23% between 2019 and 2022, and Lost Time Incident Rates worldwide by 53%.” The company pointed to the latter metric – Lost Time Incident Rates – which records only incidents in which an employee has to take time off, as a better indicator of serious injuries than what the report notes as serious injuries.

As Amazon drastically expanded its footprint in New York, workers, advocates and some lawmakers have amplified concerns about on-the-job injuries and safety conditions at the company’s warehouses.

Addressing those concerns was a top priority for members of the Amazon Labor Union, the independent union that made history in April 2022 by leading a successful vote to unionize JFK8 – a massive Amazon warehouse on Staten Island. Since that historic vote, however, the union has been less successful going up against the union resistant Amazon, and has lost several votes at other warehouses in New York. One of the union votes lost by the Amazon Labor Union was at ALB1, the Albany facility that was among those that received a citation for safety risks from OSHA. The National Employment Law Project’s new report noted that ALB1 had the second highest injury rate of Amazon facilities in the state in 2022, at 18.8 per 100 workers. 

The National Employment Law Project, along with the New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition, is pushing for the passage of a bill from state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assembly Member Latoya Joyner that would require employers to implement programs to identify and mitigate risks of musculoskeletal injuries. Tung, the National Employment Law Project policy analyst, pointed to recommendations in OSHA’s own reports that could reduce injury risks, including frequent injury prevention training and providing more motorized equipment, like electric pallet jacks, to lift and move heavy items.

The coalition, which includes the Amazon Labor Union and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, is set to demonstrate with Ramos Thursday morning outside Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Manhattan apartment to call for passage of the Warehouse Workers Injury Reduction Act.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.