#worker injuries

“There’s a big difference between what Amazon says is happening and what its records show,” Reveal reporter Will Evans says in the podcast. “And what they say about worker safety often just isn’t true … between 2016 and 2019, as demands on workers were going up, so were injuries. They didn’t even meet their own internal safety goals.”

Evans says last year, there were more than 14,000 serious injuries at Amazon warehouses, which he notes is “twice the industry average.”

These injuries can range from lasting back problems to other kinds of muscle pain. One California Amazon worker told Evans she threw her back out while trying to meet her quota of loading an item onto a rack every 11 seconds.

Evans interviewed another former employee from a DuPont warehouse who said that pizza parties were given to celebrate going for a length of time with no injuries; the employee felt like the parties were a bribe to get people not to report their injuries.

With Prime Day coming up Oct. 13-14, another spike in injuries at Amazon warehouses could be on the horizon. Evans says in the podcast that injuries have gone up during the busiest times for orders, such as the holiday season or Prime Day.

“Amazon has repeatedly said to us and other media that injury rates do not spike during these busy times … It’s just not true. Amazon’s own data shows that their injury rates do spike around Prime Day and during the holidays,” he says. “And Amazon knew this when they told us the exact opposite — we saw it in their internal reports.”

Evans says he also discovered that one Colorado Amazon warehouse found a way around reporting serious injuries to the federal government, as is required by law.

While New Safety Efforts Are Underway, Injuries Are Still Part Of The Job For Meat And Poultry Workers

The rate of meatpacking workers who lose time or change jobs because they’re injured is 70 percent higher than the average for manufacturing workers overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

We are already more than half way through the year and it’s time for us to reflect on health and safety, our achievements and our shortcomings. Employers and their workers should be reviewing their site’s safety plan on a regular basis and assessing whether these plans are still effective in maintaining safety, particularly as work progresses and circumstances on the site change.

There are number of things that can happen on a construction site which pose a threat to worker health and safety and it is the responsibility of employers to identify these threats beforehand and either eliminate them or implement the necessary controls.

Already this year a number of workers were killed on work sites in Oz and as SafeWork Australia statistics highlight, tradies are the most “at risk”.

An incident which took place on a construction site recently is an example of the type of freak accidents that can occur when construction work is underway.

The accident took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the United States when a worker was pinned between a beam and an aerial lift on a construction site. During the incident, co-workers managed to free the victim before any irreparable damage was done but other workers may not be as lucky.

The following is an excerpt from an article on Fox6Now.com which reported on the incident:

Officials were dispatched for a report of a worker pinned between a beam and an aerial lift in the Onyx Building on the construction site.

Before emergency crews responded to the scene — co-workers were able to free the worker who was trapped.

We’re told no one saw the accident happen, or how the worker became trapped.

The 35-year-old worker was taken by ambulance to the hospital. It is believed he suffered a torn or dislocated shoulder. His injuries are not believed to be serious.

Source: http://fox6now.com/2014/07/23/construction-accident-osha-investigating-after-worker-becomes-trapped-at-amazon-complex-site/

As employers review their site safety plans and initiatives, they should also ensure that they address the issue of training. Worker training is a vital component of site health and safety and failure to ensure workers receive the necessary safety training can not only result in devastating incidents, but also cost the company thousands in fines if prosecuted.

Employers need to ensure that all workers have completed the most basic form of general construction safety training, known as The White Card and are in possession of a White Card as proof that they have completed the nationally accredited course with a registered training organisation.

Employers also need to ensure that workers receive all the necessary training pertaining to specific site hazards and safety plans as well as any additional training that workers may require to complete specific tasks as directed by their employers.

Failure to provide workers with the proper training can result in serious consequences not only for employers but also for workers and the general public.