‘Callous Disregard’: Amazon Not Providing Care to Injured Employees, Claims Regulator

Some traumatic injuries are worsened by the company’s strenuous work environment

An Amazon employee at the warehouse in Fernley, Nev., on Dec., 1, 2008. (AP Photo/Scott Sady, File)

An investigation by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has determined that ecommerce behemoth Amazon allegedly failed to ensure employees received adequate medical treatment for traumatic and chronic injuries.

OSHA identified six employees who suffered from head injuries as well as four workers who suffered from back injuries who did not receive timely, necessary medical care at a fulfillment center in Castleton, New York, according to a press release on April 28. The injured workers were reportedly asked to get back to their jobs, which in many cases ended up making the injuries worse.

“The work at these fulfillment facilities is physically demanding. Returning a worker with a back injury or possible concussion to their job without proper medical evaluation and care can lead to prolonged injuries and lifelong suffering,” said OSHA assistant secretary Doug Parker.

“The examples uncovered by our investigation demonstrate a callous disregard for the well-being of Amazon’s Castleton employees that is completely unacceptable.” The agency has proposed that the trillion-dollar company pay $15,625 as penalties.

OSHA has previously put Amazon on notice for its deficient onsite medical practices. Back in 2016, for example, the agency issued a “hazard alert” on the matter following an investigation into the company’s Robbinsville fulfillment facility in New Jersey.

According to one citation, “on or about 8/15/22 and thereafter: an employee sustained a back injury while lifting a box. The employee was not referred to an outside appropriately licensed medical provider and therefore received no formal medical evaluation despite persistent or worsening pain or disability.”

“The employee was repeatedly sent back to their regular job, aggravating their injury, and was not removed from job tasks despite reported pain levels up to eight out of 10 and despite clear statements that job activities aggravated their pain.”

The Administering Medical Care to Amazonians Responsibly and Effectively (AMCARE) staff did not consult the Physician Help Line (PHL). The employee was then removed from work for 30 days and remains on restrictions.

Another citation states that around the same date, a second employee sustained back injury while pulling cages. “AMCARE did not follow their own Conservative Care Protocol and had no examination or reevaluation of symptoms, no consultation with the Physician Help Line, no outside medical referral or actual medical treatment.”

The employee was repeatedly sent back to their regular job, which aggravated the individual’s back injury. Seven months after the injury, the person still has ongoing back pain.

In January, OSHA cited Amazon for failing to keep its workers safe at three locations: Deltona in Florida, Waukegan in Illinois, and New Windsor in New York.

Investigators from OSHA who inspected Amazon’s warehouses found that workers were at high risk of sustaining injuries in the lower back as well as other “musculoskeletal disorders.”

Such risks arose due to the “high frequency with which workers are required to lift packages and other items; the heavy weight of the items; awkward postures, such as twisting, bending, and long reaches while lifting; and long hours required to complete assigned tasks.”

The Inspection, Amazon Response

OSHA’s findings come as part of an ongoing inspection of Amazon’s fulfillment center in New York that began in August 2022. The inspection was based on a referral from the U.S. attorney’s office for the southern district of New York.

As a result, five other Amazon facilities were also put under investigation. They are located in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Florida, and New York.

At present, 20 Amazon locations in the United States are under OSHA investigations. The agency’s finding that Amazon failed in providing proper medical care to its injured workers in Castleton is the fourth time in 2023 that the company has been cited for violations.

Earlier this year, OSHA had issued citations on Jan. 18, 2023, Feb. 1, 2023, and Feb. 23, 2023, for violations at seven warehouse facilities in Castleton, Deltona, Aurora, and Colorado Springs in Colorado, Nampa in Idaho, Waukegan, and New Windsor.

Amazon now has 15 days from the receipt of the current citation and the proposed penalty to either comply with OSHA’s observations, contest the findings with the agency, or request an informal conference with an OSHA area director.

“We take the safety and well-being of our employees extremely seriously, and the claims in this citation are just plain wrong so we plan to appeal. Our policy is to encourage anyone who wants or needs outside medical attention to get it immediately, and our onsite clinics are just for first aid, not formal medical diagnosis,” said Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel in an emailed statement to The Epoch Times.

“Since 2019, we’ve invested more than $1 billion in safety initiatives, and our publicly available data show that our recordable injury rate and lost time incident rate have dropped by more than 23 percent and 53 percent, respectively. We also know that there will always be more to do, and we'll continue working to get better every day.”

Unsafe Amazon Workplace

An April 12 report (pdf) by the union coalition Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) revealed that Amazon’s operations were “dramatically more dangerous” for workers when compared to other similar facilities. The report analyzed injury data that Amazon provided to OSHA last year.

“In 2022, the serious injury rate at Amazon warehouses was 6.6 per 100 workers—more than double the rate at non-Amazon warehouses (3.2 per 100). Workers at Amazon facilities sustained nearly 39,000 injuries in 2022,” the report said.

“While Amazon employed 36 percent of all U.S. warehouse workers in 2022, the company was responsible for more than half (53 percent) of all serious injuries in the industry.”

Based on the 2022 injury data, the report concluded that Amazon failed to match even its own performance from two years earlier. The company “has not come close” to parity with its warehouse industry peers, it stated.

In 2021 and 2022, the Washington State OSHA Program (WISHA) issued multiple citations to Amazon. It asked the company to reduce the pace of work in order to raise worker safety.

“Rather than reduce its dangerous production pressure and quotas, Amazon doubled down, appealing the citations. Amazon also interfered with follow-up investigations, including by barring state inspectors from entering warehouses and refusing to provide WISHA with necessary information,” the report states.

In March 2022, inspectors from another WISHA investigation found that Amazon’s Kent warehouse in Washington was demonstrating “plain indifference in that they have been made aware of the hazards and increased injury rates yet are making no effort to take corrective action.”