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OSHA records show amazon had twice the amount of serious injuries than lets say walmart in 2020. In 2019 their injury rate was in the 7's and it was twice the i

OSHA records show amazon had twice the amount of serious injuries than lets say walmart in 2020. In 2019 their injury rate was in the 7's and it was twice the industry average. https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/1/22463132/amazon-injury-rate-warehouses-osha-data-report https://www.theverge.com/2021/6/1/22463132/amazon-injury-rat... Amazon delivery providers report injury rates even higher but don't get reported by amazon because they are technically hired by other companies. https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/01/study-amazon-workers-injured-at-higher-rates-than-rival-companies.html https://www.cnbc.com/2021/06/01/study-amazon-workers-injured... > The SOC found that these DSPs reported injury rates of 14 and 13.3, respectively, per 100 workers. Additionally, the majority of injuries reported by DSPs in 2019 and 2020 were severe, requiring employees to take time off work to recover, the SOC said. Comparing against the industry averages and against competitors is not the media exaggerating anything - its how you would understand what is normal or not. edit: can't reply because hackernews is limiting my posting rate but for the poster below who asks maybe its because amazon is so good at reporting, the evidence suggests otherwise and there is no evidence to suggest they are reporting better. It could be but the evidence suggests otherwise, so unless you have some evidence to the contrary all you're doing is conjecture. A higher injury rate is just be a higher injury rate unless there's evidence to suggest otherwise, which you don't seem to have. https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/amazon-reportedly-downplayed-rising-injury-rates-at-its-warehouses.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/amazon-reportedly-downplayed... >Amazon may also be underreporting warehouse worker injuries. A physician who inspected Amazon warehouses for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration found that workers at some Amazon facilities were being discouraged from reporting injuries and seeking outside medical care, according to Reveal. >Another company initiative designed to curtail "lost-time injuries," or those requiring time off work, ended up preventing them from being counted as lost time, according to Reveal, directly contradicting Amazon executives' framing that such injuries were down due to enhanced safety measures.

missedthecue 5y ago
Amazon self-reported more incidents. This does not mean that more incidents occurred in Amazon warehouses vs other smaller ones. Amazon will report a sprained ankle while small mom and pop warehouse operations won't report anything that didn't require an ambulance.
- LegitShady 5y ago
  amazon had twice the accidents as walmart even after their improvement in 2020. They just injure their workers more. Would them reporting even more injuries mean they were a more safe and better working environment for you? How does that make logical sense? also see my edit to the post you replied to.
zdragnar 5y ago
That could easily be a sign that Amazon's warehouses are simply better run and are better at reporting injuries.
- teachrdan 5y ago
  Honest question: If the injury rate climbed even higher, would you believe that Amazon was somehow an even BETTER company, because they were so diligent in reporting injuries? With no evidence to support your claim, I don't see how to conclude anything other than a higher injury rate === more dangerous work conditions.
  - zdragnar 5y ago
    That is because you are assuming every company other than Amazon is playing by the rules, which is equally absurd. Barring better information, I can't really say one way or the other. Ot isn't a terribly unreasonable hypothesis- running warehouses is basically Amazon's core business model, paired with AWS.
tyrfing 5y ago
It's what you would expect when they have harshly enforced production quotas. Safety is inevitably secondary in that sort of environment. Trying to minimize the severity of the injuries is very questionable. You can't force someone to walk 10-20 miles a day after they injure their ankle. Reporting accidents resulting in missed work or doctor visits is completely normal, saying that Amazon follows the law and nobody else does is a little rich for me. Different structures like union protection or looser production requirements provide a lot of slack. Even averaging the same production over months/years, it allows for working slowly or more carefully in situations that demand in it. Going slower because your back is feeling off is an escape valve; a fistful of Ibuprofen and hitting your hourly quota might mean a recordable injury 2 days later.

missedthecue 5y ago

Amazon self-reported more incidents. This does not mean that more incidents occurred in Amazon warehouses vs other smaller ones. Amazon will report a sprained ankle while small mom and pop warehouse operations won't report anything that didn't require an ambulance.

LegitShady 5y ago
amazon had twice the accidents as walmart even after their improvement in 2020. They just injure their workers more. Would them reporting even more injuries mean they were a more safe and better working environment for you? How does that make logical sense? also see my edit to the post you replied to.

zdragnar 5y ago

That could easily be a sign that Amazon's warehouses are simply better run and are better at reporting injuries.

teachrdan 5y ago
Honest question: If the injury rate climbed even higher, would you believe that Amazon was somehow an even BETTER company, because they were so diligent in reporting injuries? With no evidence to support your claim, I don't see how to conclude anything other than a higher injury rate === more dangerous work conditions.
- zdragnar 5y ago
  That is because you are assuming every company other than Amazon is playing by the rules, which is equally absurd. Barring better information, I can't really say one way or the other. Ot isn't a terribly unreasonable hypothesis- running warehouses is basically Amazon's core business model, paired with AWS.

tyrfing 5y ago

It's what you would expect when they have harshly enforced production quotas. Safety is inevitably secondary in that sort of environment. Trying to minimize the severity of the injuries is very questionable. You can't force someone to walk 10-20 miles a day after they injure their ankle. Reporting accidents resulting in missed work or doctor visits is completely normal, saying that Amazon follows the law and nobody else does is a little rich for me. Different structures like union protection or looser production requirements provide a lot of slack. Even averaging the same production over months/years, it allows for working slowly or more carefully in situations that demand in it. Going slower because your back is feeling off is an escape valve; a fistful of Ibuprofen and hitting your hourly quota might mean a recordable injury 2 days later.