The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor has issued citations and sent hazard alert letters to three more Amazon warehouses, located in Aurora, Colorado, Nampa, Idaho, and Castleton, New York, for failing to protect workers’ safety.
Read on to learn more about these latest in a long line of citations. Then contact PLBH at (800) 435-7542 if you have suffered an injury at work and need help from an attorney to determine your options for a workers’ compensation claim or a personal injury claim.
Details about the citations
The international e-commerce corporation received a citation from OSHA for failing to comply with the OSH Act’s general duty clause regarding maintaining safe workplaces. Following referrals from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, the agency opened inspections in July 2022 at other Amazon warehouse locations in Florida, Illinois, and New York, where it discovered similar infractions. On August 1, 2022, OSHA began conducting inspections in Aurora, Nampa, and Castleton.
Amazon exposed warehouse workers to a significant risk of low back injuries and other musculoskeletal diseases at all six locations, according to OSHA investigators. The following are some of the dangers they encountered:
- Employees are required to lift shipments and other goods frequently
- The workers are required to lift heavy goods
- Workers clumsily bending, twisting, and stretching themselves to lift objects leads to injury
- Long hours are needed to finish the allocated work
OSHA examined the federally mandated on-site injury logs and found that Amazon warehouse employees had a high incidence of musculoskeletal diseases.
For the infractions at the Aurora, Nampa, and Castleton operations, OSHA suggested $46,875 in fines.
A word from the Assistant Security for OSHA
According to Doug Parker, Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health, “Amazon’s operating practices are creating hazardous work conditions and processes, resulting to serious worker accidents.” They must take these accidents seriously and put in place a corporate-wide policy to safeguard its workers from these well-known and avoidable risks.
The OSH Act’s six-month limitations period for the investigations at these three locations was extended on January 30, 2023 by the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington while Amazon cooperated with unfulfilled subpoenas; as a result, OSHA’s investigation is still ongoing. As part of the same inquiry, OSHA issued 14 recordkeeping citations to Amazon in December 2022.
Amazon’s options
After receiving the current citations and suggested fine, Amazon has 15 working days to either comply, ask for a casual meeting with the OSHA local director, or challenge the findings in front of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.
Your options if you have been injured
If you have worked for Amazon and been injured while doing so, we recommend contacting PLBH at (800) 435-7542 as soon as possible. We can help you determine the best way for you to move forward with your case.