America's Workplace Safety Agency Announces Ongoing Investigations at Six Amazon Warehouses (go.com) 26
Friday America's Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has launched an ongoing investigation into six Amazon warehouses in five different states, and has already cited Amazon during those inspections for failing to properly record work-related injuries and illnesses.
OSHA issued Amazon 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....
"Our concern is that nothing will be done to keep an injury from recurring if it isn't even recorded in the logbook," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker, "which — in a company the size of Amazon — could have significant consequences for a large number of workers."
You can read all the specifics in a 70-page document online. The Chicago Tribune writes that "In one case, a worker's head injury was classified as a muscle strain, OSHA said." ABC News writes that workers at the six investigated Amazon fulfillment-center warehouses "have complained of a grueling pace, uncomfortable heat and the potential for injury."
Amazon faces proposed penalties of $29,008.
"Our concern is that nothing will be done to keep an injury from recurring if it isn't even recorded in the logbook," said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker, "which — in a company the size of Amazon — could have significant consequences for a large number of workers."
You can read all the specifics in a 70-page document online. The Chicago Tribune writes that "In one case, a worker's head injury was classified as a muscle strain, OSHA said." ABC News writes that workers at the six investigated Amazon fulfillment-center warehouses "have complained of a grueling pace, uncomfortable heat and the potential for injury."
Amazon faces proposed penalties of $29,008.
Long standing issues (Score:3)
$29,008 (Score:5, Funny)
I'm sure a fine of $29,008 will deter them.
Re:$29,008 (Score:4)
beat me to it.
I'm sure I couldn't even fathom how small an amount of a penalty that would be to amazon. Is it in the range of operating minutes? seconds?
Nothing compared to the cost it would take to correct the action, even just a meeting of executives to discuss how to fix, not even talking about the training to warehouse foremen to implement, nor the followup to ensure it's actually happening.
Is this one of those things where the financial penalty isn't the point. just a penalty of some sort is present to enforce the spirit of the law? hoping the fact that action was taken would instil a willingness to change?
I don't know how serious previous reports were about workers not able to take pee breaks were, but if any truth is attributed to them, it doesn't leave me with much confidence that anything other than severe financial penalty would cause this to change. and with my original statement, if this is the prescient set, it would be far more financially viable to continue non-compliance.
My irrelevant 2-cents....
Re: (Score:2)
Knowing that pee breaks are hard to come by for Amazon workers, I would be really careful about ordering a water bottle from Amazon...
Re: $29,008 (Score:2)
I mean... xd
Re: (Score:2)
First offense fines are small 'we didn't know'
orders of magnitude next time..
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I sure hope so, this is ridiculous.
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I'm sure a fine of $29,008 will deter them.
That's about what, a second's worth of profit?
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Then again the right wing has been packing the courts with pro corporate judges for 20 years so it might not matter.
What we need are unions. Collective bargaining. It never ceases to amaze me that individual people think they can bargain effectively with Jeff fucking bezos.
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According to the summary, that was the maximum amount that could be inflicted for the problem, and reporting a head injury as a muscle strain...well, it *MIGHT* be a minor injury, but it could also be any number of other degrees of seriousness. Concussion is probably the most serious possibility that's likely, but *that* isn't improbable. And it shouldn't be up to management to decide.
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Tickets for jaywalking (Score:2)
From the government doc these are the kinds of things they're being cited for:
"(f) Case No. 72 (AFE1 Station 110-1) occurring on 4/6/2022, an employee injured their back while working in
AFE1 lifting heavy items all day. The injury resulted in job transfer or restriction for 69 days."
[and was listed in the system, but not reported to OSHA within some time frame]
" (a) On or about 7/3/2022, an employee was lifting boxes and strained their left wrist. The injury was recorded on
OSHA's Form 300 with 53 job transf
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They aren't weaponizing OSHA, the fines were ridiculously small. At least they aren't neutering OSHA like the GQP wants.
What grade schooler decided on the title? (Score:1)
"America's Workplace Safety Agency Announces"?
The go.com article's title "Amazon cited by OSHA for warehouse injury report failures" is professional, concise and precise.
29 thousand examples... (Score:2)
...of what a joke this is. That's like fining me 1c with the stern warning that if I keep making money like this, more "fines" will be on the way. I'm sure if it got really terrible they might go so far as to fine me the unheard of amount of $1, which I would promptly appeal as "unfair" and "anti-business"...then they'd promptly reduce that to 5c while telling everyone that they're sure I've learned my lesson.
What a joke with a severely damaging punchline. Remember folks, it won't matter what letter is behi