- The year-long investigation into the working conditions of Amazon warehouses is finally over.
- A report was published on Tuesday which revealed that “accidents” among workers peak during the two-day annual event, the biggest cause being inadequate staffing.
- Amazon has criticized this report and said it ignores all the progress it has made. According to the company, the injury rates have significantly gone down.
A Senate probe found that Amazon’s Prime Day is a major cause of injuries among workers. For those who don’t know, Amazon Prime Day is a 2-day annual event during which the company offers amazing discounts.
This is a great chance for Amazon Prime customers to bag a good deal but on the other hand, reports suggest it is hazardous for the staff of the warehouse.
The report comes after a year-long investigation conducted by the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, or HELP Committee.
This also includes injuries the company is not required to disclose to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This means, almost half of the staff had been hurt in some way or the other.
The biggest reason behind this is poor resource planning on the company’s part. In simple words, there are just not enough people to handle the extra workload during that event.
Extra long hours also mean that most people are tired towards the end of their shifts which leads to negligence and ignorance of safety guidelines.
In the internal documents that were sent by the company for the probe, one that raised eyebrows is the “2021 Prime Day Lessons Learned”. This document reveals that between May and June of 2021, the company only met 71.2% of its hiring requirements.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent who chairs the HELP committee said that such behavior from the company is unacceptable and needs to change immediately.
”Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete contempt for their safety and wellbeing” – Sen. Bernie Sanders
He even wrote a letter to Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos, asking him to stop pushing the workers past their limit just for the sake of profit.
What Does Amazon Have to Say About This?
Kelly Nantel, a spokesperson for the company said that the report ignores all the improvements it has made.
She also said that the documents that were sent in for the probe are quite old and are riddled with factual errors, unverified anecdotes, and faulty analysis. Naturally, any assumption made on this data is wrong.
She even said that the claim in the report that the company was not adequately staffed for the busy shopping period is false.
Last but not least, she said that the rest of the conclusions that have been drawn during the investigation are simply inaccurate and exaggerated. According to Nantel, the frequency of injuries at work has significantly gone down.
Also, in March the company announced that it is planning to invest more than $750 million in safety initiatives this year.
Some tasks are also being automated and handed over to robotic systems to improve safety standards. However, since automation will eventually lead to job cuts, it’s probably not the best way to address employee well-being.
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Krishi Chowdhary
Journalist
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