How Amazon’s Dominance Is Impacting Worker Safety
The end of the year is always the busiest time for warehouses all over the world. When orders pile up, pressure to fulfill can supersede normal rules, regulations, and boundaries. There’s a mentality of whatever needs to get done to make it through the holiday season. Sacrificing employee safety for the sake of output shouldn’t be the norm, but it is often the case during peak seasons. Historically, it’s not just the most wonderful time of the year. At a warehouse, it’s also the most dangerous.
Though safety is always an issue in the warehouse world, and even more heightened during the holidays, this year’s issues are compounded and complicated by the pandemic. During the past several months, stay at home orders and CDC recommendations have pushed Americans to be even more reliant on online shopping and delivery services. Pile on the typical holiday demand and you’ve got yourself a precarious health situation in any warehouse. It makes sense that mom and pop shops would be spread thin, but shouldn’t it be different for the largest, most lucrative warehouse in the world? You’d think, right?
Despite its vast resources, Amazon’s stock has surged more than 60 percent this year and is still being scrutinized for unsafe working conditions. The mega company added nearly half a million new employees this year, many of whom were hired to work in warehouses that serve rural communities and suburbs across the country, and somehow worker protections didn’t change much.
Though Amazon officials said in October that its safety protocols included testing, tracing, cleaning and social distancing, meaning their “employees are at a very low risk of transmission in the workplace,” we’re calling BS. When things get busy during the holidays, anyone who’s worked in a warehouse knows distancing is one of the hardest tasks to execute when you’re rushed to get the job done on time.
Workers are pushing themselves even more than normal to meet demands and it’s not only putting them at risk to contract COVID-19, but it also increases the chances of other, more common on the job injury.
Amazon portrays its warehouses as safe and getting better, touting that safety is their "number one priority,” but their record is just deteriorating. Internal records show that its injury rate has increased every single year between 2016 and 2019. Amazon has knowingly misled the public about safety issues at its warehouses, like their claim that the introduction of robots has helped improve safety. In reality, the rate of serious injuries at the most common type of fulfillment center was more than 50 percent higher at robotic warehouses. Workers and former safety managers have explained that robots increase the speed of production, so employees have to go faster. This can lead to repetitive stress injuries and safety shortcuts that result in accidents that spike even greater during the holiday season.
Unfortunately, this is all nothing new. In fact, we commented on it last year too. But, with COVID presenting another highly serious risk this year, it bears repeating.
There is a fine line between cracking the whip to ensure successful performance, and putting your team at risk. No, you aren’t Amazon, but it’s not a bad idea to use their egregious mistakes as a reminder and a gut check for how you’re balancing productivity and safety in your own warehouse this season.
The biggest causes of warehouse injuries are slip and fall, exertion and repetitive stress injuries, and equipment related injury. Now in 2020, there is also COVID-19 to consider.
Slip and Fall
These injuries typically occur when workers slip on regular floor surfaces or fall off docks, walkways, and upper levels. Various hazards can cause these accidents, including:
Water or chemical spills
Accumulations of dust or powder
Electrical cords and hoses positioned across walkways
General clutter on walking surfaces
Prevention starts with organization and cleanliness. Employers should keep warehouse floors clean and free of debris, and if wiring or hoses must cross walkways, the equipment should be covered with protectors or ramps. Railings should also be installed around any docks or walkways situated next to drop-offs that are more than four feet high. Adequate lighting is also critical, as it helps workers or supervisors detect potential hazards.
Exertion and Repetitive stress
According to OSHA, poor ergonomic designs and improper lifting practices are also common causes of injury for warehouse workers. Some injuries, such as musculoskeletal disorders, develop because employees strain their muscles and joints while repeatedly engaging in awkward or strenuous motions. Others, such as back and knee injuries, may occur during an isolated moment of overexertion.
A few simple measures can lower the risk of these injuries like proper education around ergonomics and team lifting procedures –– or minimizing the need for manual lifting all together with proper equipment. A longer term prevention solution would be to invest in swapping out your dated, handheld equipment for modern wearables that are ergonomically safer and more productive. It's not just the hardware; utilizing the latest software that understands where workers are overexerted can help management redistribute employees to different tasks to avoid injury.
Equipment-Related
Unfortunately, the use of the equipment used to avoid heavy lifting also introduces distinct safety risks. Each year, thousands of warehouse employees suffer injuries involving standard warehouse equipment. OSHA states that forklift accidents alone cause about 95,000 injuries every year. Workers may also sustain injuries while they are using or working near conveyor belts, hand trucks, power tools and compactors.
Most, if not all of these injuries can be prevented through appropriate employee training, operating protocols, and use of safety equipment. Proper lockout/tagout procedures can reduce the risk of crush and amputation injuries for employees working near heavy machinery. Protective gear, such as helmets and goggles, can shield against head and eye injuries. Formal training and equipment certification can help workers employ best practices and proactively identify potential hazards.
COVID-19 Protections
Having a COVID-19 outbreak in your warehouse could be detrimental not only to your productivity and customer satisfaction, but also the mental and physical health of your workers. Keep your team safe by following official CDC guidelines, no matter how much you need to invest, or if it ultimately causes delays.
Consider conducting daily in-person or virtual health checks (e.g., symptom and/or temperature screening) of employees on scheduled workdays. Modify workstations where feasible, so workers can be at least six feet apart and are not facing each other. And, where possible, establish physical barriers between workers, and between workers and customers. If implementing physical distancing measures aren’t feasible, there is technology associated with wearable hardware that can alert workers when they come within a certain distance of another teammate.
Implement flexible sick leave and supportive policies and practices. Develop policies that encourage sick employees to stay at home without fear of reprisals, and ensure employees are aware of these policies. If contractors are employed in the workplace, develop plans to communicate with the contracting company regarding modifications to work processes.
This is a challenging time of year for warehouses, and even more so in 2021. Learn from Amazon’s unfortunate mistakes and make sure you’re able to keep your workers happy, healthy, and stress-free. Remember, without your workers, you have no warehouse.
