Amazon Cited for Failing to Record Warehouse Injuries

The US Labor Department has cited(Opens in a new window) Amazon for failing to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses at six warehouses in five states.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued citations for 14 recordkeeping violations, including failing to record injuries and illnesses, misclassifying injuries and illnesses, not recording injuries and illnesses within the required time, and not providing OSHA with timely injury and illness records. Amazon faces $29,008 in penalties, the agency says—a drop in the bucket for a company worth just shy of a trillion dollars.

The findings are part of an ongoing investigation into Amazon’s health and safety practices by OSHA, which opened inspections at three of the cited warehouses on July 18 and at the other three on Aug. 1. The warehouses are in Florida, Illinois, Colorado, and Idaho, with two in New York. 

Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker said: “Solving health and safety problems in the workplace requires injury and illness records to be accurate and transparent.”

“Our concern is that nothing will be done to keep an injury from recurring if it isn’t even recorded in the logbook which – in a company the size of Amazon – could have significant consequences for a large number of workers,” Parker added.

Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to OSHA, Amazon has 15 business days from receipt of the citation and proposed penalty to comply. Amazon can also opt to request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. 

Meanwhile, on Dec. 15, Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, as well as Sen. Elizabeth Warren sent a letter(Opens in a new window) to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy over the company’s “reported failure to improve structural safety” at its Edwardsville, Illinois, facility, which collapsed in December 2021 after a tornado ripped through it, causing six deaths. It has been reported(Opens in a new window) that Amazon’s warehouse rebuilding efforts include a storm shelter.