Amazon Warehouse Workers are Suffering Serious Injuries at an Alarming Rate

Amazon Warehouse Workers are Suffering Serious Injuries at an Alarming Rate

Last month, our Charlotte workers’ compensation attorneys at Waple & Houk discussed the continuing prevalence of Walmart distribution center accidents and injuries and our role in holding the massive retail giant responsible for providing injured employees with the workers’ compensation benefits they are entitled to after suffering workplace injuries.

As the second-largest employer in the United States and the foremost e-commerce retailer, Amazon, with over one million workers and a trajectory of rapid expansion, has faced scrutiny for its warehouse labor practices due to an increasing number of injuries.

With eight fulfillment centers in North Carolina, including two in Charlotte, Amazon has dedicated plans to add more fulfillment centers and delivery stations throughout the state.

Due to Amazon’s unwavering emphasis on growth and efficiency, employee safety has been overshadowed by the pursuit of profits. The hazardous health and safety conditions within its facilities have come under scrutiny, as highlighted in this NBC News report. Furthermore, numerous researchers and journalists have analyzed standardized records of worker injuries at Amazon sites. Their findings reveal that Amazon’s injury rates are more than double those in the already perilous general warehousing industry, a conclusion that government officials have corroborated.

“Amazon’s operating methods are creating hazardous work conditions and processes, leading to serious worker injuries,” explained Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “They need to take these injuries seriously and implement a company-wide strategy to protect their employees from these well-known and preventable hazards.”

While our Charlotte distribution center workers’ compensation attorneys could not agree more, the injury statistics contradict Amazon’s promises for change.

Comparing Amazon Injury Rates with Other Distribution Center Employers

The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) is an independent coalition of four labor unions representing more than four million workers. It compares Amazon’s injury rates to those of the broader warehouse industry and its largest e-commerce rival, Walmart.

After four years of analysis, SOC discovered that Amazon’s warehouses were significantly more hazardous than Walmart’s.

Amazon’s warehouse injury rate, at 6.5 per 100 full-time employees, was more than double that of Walmart’s, which stood at 3.0. Not only were injuries more frequent in Amazon warehouses compared to non-Amazon facilities, but they were also more severe. The severe injury rate at Amazon, defined as injuries requiring light duty or preventing workers from returning to their jobs, was 2.6 per 100 employees—over two-and-a-half times higher than Walmart’s rate of 1.0 per 100 employees.

What are the Most Common Causes of Amazon Warehouse Injuries?

Injuries in Amazon warehouses often stem from repetitive motions like lifting, straining, bending, pushing, and pulling, which are performed thousands of times in one shift. Safety officials directly link Amazon’s employee monitoring and discipline systems to workplace musculoskeletal disorders. As employees are pressured to complete more work in shorter timeframes, overexertion and repetitive motion remain the primary causes of these injuries.

If you have been hurt at work in an Amazon distribution center in North Carolina, contact our dedicated workers’ compensation attorneys in Charlotte today by phone or schedule a free consultation online to learn more about how we can help you pursue the best outcome for your injury claim.