OSHA Is Probing Amazon Warehouse Over Coronavirus Concerns (1)

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating an Amazon.com Inc. warehouse near Hazleton, Pennsylvania, following complaints from workers that the company is not doing enough to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at the facility, an agency spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Amazon Warehouse Warned Staff Not to Touch Shipments for 24 Hours

At the facility, called AVP1, workers receive products from manufacturers, many of them located overseas, break those shipments down, and route them on to dozens of Amazon warehouses for storage and shipment to customers. Amazon workers around the country have staged protests and walkouts to highlight their concerns about working conditions, including an inability to maintain social distancing guidelines, a lack of protective gear and hand sanitizer and lack of time to clean their hands.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to comment on the OSHA investigation. The company says it’s enforcing social distancing guidelines in its facilities, checking employee temperatures at the start of shifts and stepping up cleaning. The company also says it has enough masks and hand sanitizer for employees at all its facilities. Only a small number of workers have participated in protests, Amazon says.

(Updated with information from Amazon in third paragraph)

To contact the reporters on this story:
Spencer Soper in Seattle at ssoper@bloomberg.net;
Matt Day in Seattle at mday63@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alistair Barr at abarr18@bloomberg.net

Robin Ajello

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