As part of a settlement deal that mandates the business to keep looking for methods to reduce injuries, federal safety officials have dismissed nine out of ten violations accusing Amazon of putting warehouse workers at high risk of harm.
In 2022, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched a series of investigations into ten Amazon locations nationwide, leading to claims that the corporation had established a hazardous workplace and put employees at great danger of harm.
OSHA also accused Amazon’s own medical team of improperly referring injured workers to outside medical care at one of its facilities in New York.
OSHA dismissed nine of the ten citations pertaining to ergonomics allegations of workplace injuries caused by repeated motions, among other things, in a settlement agreed on Wednesday.
According to Amazon, OSHA also revoked the citation for medical care in the New York site.
Amazon acknowledged one of the violations regarding the way employees handle televisions in a warehouse in Illinois and promised to implement improvements to further lower the risk of accidents there. It will pay a $145,000 penalty for that citation, which is more than the $15,625 punishment for the first infraction.
There was no acknowledgment of wrongdoing by Amazon in the arrangement. The business pledged to maintain some of its current safety procedures, such as mandatory staff training, regular evaluations of its work procedures, and meetings with the safety committee.
The settlement deal is being hailed as a success by Amazon and OSHA.
According to OSHA Assistant Secretary Douglas Parker, the deal would enhance working conditions for hundreds of thousands of Amazon employees by requiring the business to evaluate injury risk across the board.
Parker stated in a statement that the corporation is in control. OSHA is prepared to collaborate with their ergonomics team in order to assess their progress and confirm the promises they made to the agency.
Amazon stated on Thursday that the deal recognizes our advancements. We value OSHA’s readiness to weigh all the information and come to our agreement today, and we look forward to working with them in the future.
In order to examine accident trends and the company’s risk-reduction measures, including the progress of pilot projects in its warehouses, Amazon and OSHA agreed to meet twice a year.
Ahead of a new presidential administration that is expected to upend the federal regulatory agencies, the settlement was reached. President-elect Donald Trump is considering Heather MacDougall, Amazon s former vice president of health and safety, to lead OSHA.
The agreement also comes days after Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released a scathing report about Amazon s warehouses. Sanders and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions accused Amazon ofignoring suggestions about how to reduce the injury rate at its warehouses from the company s internal studies.
Amazon denied the allegations in the Senate committee s report and said those studies had flawed methodology and proposed changes that later proved to be ineffective.
Earlier this year, Amazon scored another victory in its warehouse safety story when aWashington judge overturned four citationsaccusing the company of creating an unsafe working environment at warehouses in the state.
Washington s Department of Labor and Industries appealed that ruling, but the Board of Industrial Insurance Appealsupheld the decision.The Superior Court is now open to L&I’s appeals.
Amazon also faces an ongoing investigation from the U.S. Attorney s Office in the Southern District of New York todetermine if Amazon executives knew about safety hazards in its warehousesand misled others about the company s safety record. OSHA said Thursday that the settlement agreement does not affect the ongoing investigation.
Amazon spokesperson Maureen Lynch Vogel said the company believes the U.S. attorney s legal theory lacks merit, and that Amazon is cooperating fully in the investigation.
— Lauren Rosenblatt, The Seattle Times
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