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US Labor Department opened an investigation into the Logan Township (Gloucester County) site in January, following complaints that Amazon was exposing workers to hazards capable of causing serious physical harm, the DOL said in a release.
Amazon had allegedly been requiring employees to perform tasks leading to bodily stress that had caused, were causing and were likely to cause musculoskeletal disorders, the DOL said. These findings led OSHA to issue a citation for particular ergonomic hazards and propose $15,625 in penalties, and also issue a Hazard Alert Letter regarding additional ergonomic hazards.
During its investigation, OSHA also learned that Amazon had failed to use established controls to ensure that injured employees received proper medical care, the DOL said. The agency issued a second Hazard Alert Letter for this medical treatment failure, a concern found in other Amazon facilities in Deltona, FL, in January 2023 and Castleton, NY, in April 2023.
“The work done by Amazon employees in the company’s fulfillment centers is physically demanding, which makes the availability of proper medical care extremely important,” said OSHA Area Director Paula Dixon-Roderick in Marlton, New Jersey. “Amazon needs to do more to protect the safety and health of its employees, including implementation of a companywide strategy to address well-known and preventable hazards.”
Amazon issued the following statement:
“We take the safety of our employees very seriously, and we strongly disagree with these allegations and intend to appeal. We’ve cooperated fully with OSHA’s investigation at our Logan Township Fulfillment Center and don’t believe that these allegations reflect the reality of safety at our sites. Over the last several months we’ve demonstrated the extent to which we work every day to mitigate risk and protect our people, and our publicly available data shows that across our global network, our recordable incident rate has improved nearly 24% and long term incident rate has improved 53% since 2019."
Currently, the DOL has 18 open federal inspections at Amazon locations in the U.S.
This marks the sixth time in 2023 that OSHA has cited Amazon for violations, including citations issued on April 27, April 18, Feb. 23, Feb. 1 and Jan. 18, for violations at eight warehouse facilities in Castleton, Deltona and in Aurora and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Nampa, Idaho; Waukegan, Illinois; Bayonne, New Jersey; and New Windsor, New York.
Amazon has 15 business days from receipt of the current citations and proposed penalty to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
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