Amazon Fosters Unsafe Warehouses, Sanders Investigation Finds

Amazon has knowingly created a dangerous working environment with higher-than-average injury rates by focusing on speed and productivity rather than safety in its warehouses, according to a report from Sen. Bernie Sanders released Monday.

The 18-month investigation led by Sanders (I-Vt.), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, found that Amazon recorded 30% more injuries than the warehousing industry average in 2023.

“Amazon forces workers to operate in a system that demands impossible rates and treats them as disposable when they are injured,” Sanders said. “It accepts worker injuries and their long-term pain and disabilities as the cost of doing business.”

Amazon deflates the injury numbers it records for federal regulators, refuses to implement injury-reducing measures at the cost of productivity, and forces workers to move in repeated unsafe ways thousands of times each shift—resulting in high rates of musculoskeletal disorders, the report found.

A company spokesperson disputed the findings of Sanders’s report, asserting the company’s publicly available injury figures accurately show a 28% improvement in injuries since 2019 and a 75% reduction in lost time incident rate.

“There’s zero truth to the claim that we systemically under-report injuries,” said Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson. “OSHA has investigated similar claims and found minor clerical errors, not a willful or systemic recordkeeping issue.”

Sanders said he’s concerned about reportsthat Heather MacDougall—Amazon’s former vice president of health and safety—is under consideration by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Sanders’ report comes as at least 5,500 unionized Amazon workers at two New York warehouses gave their leaders the authority to call a strike as early as this week. One of the two workers at a facility in Atlanta that recently secured a settlement over their retaliation claims with the company affirmed the Senate investigation.

“I refuse to stay quiet. I’m going to fight to make Amazon abide by its word when they say that the health and safety of associates comes first,” said Ron Sewell, an Amazon ATL6 associate. “This Senate investigation backs up what workers have been saying all along.”

The report also included legislative recommendations for adopting seven laws, including passing S.4260 the Warehouse Worker Protection Act.