More than 24,000 serious injuries were sustained by Amazon warehouse workers in 2020, a rate of injury substantially higher than those at other industry facilities, according to a new report from the Strategic Organizing Center.
The SOC is a pro-union advocacy group and based the report on an analysis of publicly-available workplace safety data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The SOC found that Amazon workers were substantially more likely to sustain serious injuries in Amazon fulfillment and delivery jobs than at comparable employers like Walmart from 2017 to 2020.
The group also found that the company's workplace safety precautions caused by the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 reduced the rate of injury at Amazon last year; the 24,000 serious injuries in 2020 are substantially less than previous years, though still higher than other employers. In 2020, Amazon fulfillment and delivery workers sustained 6.5 injuries per 100 Amazon warehouse workers, as compared to 4.5 for other employers, according to the report data.
The SOC also specifically compared Amazon to Walmart, its closest competitor in terms of delivery size and scale, and found that Amazon's serious injury rate was more than two-and-a-half times higher than Walmart's over the four-year period.
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.Image: Climate TRACE