Sacramento Amazon warehouse’s injury rate among highest in US. Holidays make it worse

Last-minute purchases on Amazon Prime might be convenient, but workers at the Sacramento Amazon warehouse say the back-breaking work of lifting and sorting orders during the holiday rush is leading to a high number of injuries.

The Sacramento fulfillment center had one of the worst injury rates among Amazon’s warehouses in the United States last year, according to a recent investigation by Reveal, from the Center for Investigative Reporting.

In 2018, there were 385 injuries reported at the local fulfillment center, just across the street from Sacramento International Airport, according to records submitted by Amazon to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Of those injuries, more than half required the injured person to take time off work. Another 153 cases required the injured person to transfer jobs or work under new restrictions.

The investigation found that the breakneck pace workers have to keep up — particularly during the holiday shopping season — has in part led to injury rates at nationwide warehouses that are significantly higher than the industry standard.

Amazon reported it shipped more than 1 billion products to members of Prime (a paid Amazon subscription service that includes free two-day delivery) during the last holiday season. According to a report by labor advocates released this month, injury rates climb “dramatically” throughout the peak shopping season between Black Friday and Christmas.

“The clock was always ticking on Amazon’s promised delivery time,” Reveal reporter Will Evans wrote.

At smaller fulfillment centers like Sacramento, workers sort thousands of items each day before orders head out for the last leg of delivery.

Employees are now expected to lift and scan 300 items an hour — or one product every 12 seconds — according to Amazonians United Sacramento, a local group organized by workers at the nearby delivery station in West Sacramento. Until recently, employees at the West Sacramento warehouse were expected to scan 180 items an hour, the group stated.

“Everyone immediately felt the effects of trying to go this fast in our backs,” read a Facebook post by Amazonians United Sacramento last month.

At Sacramento’s fulfillment center last year, the rate of serious injuries — ones that require time off or medical attention beyond a first aid kit — was 16.4 per every 100 workers. The industry average rate last year was 4 per every 100 workers.

The average number of employees who work at the Sacramento fulfillment center last year was 1,002, according to OSHA records.

In an emailed statement, Amazon said that the reason injury rates are high at fulfillment centers like Sacramento compared to the industry standard is that the company takes “an aggressive stance on recording injuries no matter how big or small, which results in elevated recordable rates and makes comparisons misleading.”

“We err on the side of recording an injury versus not recording it, because continuous improvement is at the core of our culture – we want to keep getting better, and if you don’t have the data, improvement is difficult,” Amazon’s statement read.

In recent months, Amazonians United Sacramento has been rallying to secure more worker rights for employees at the West Sacramento delivery station, many of whom are part-time workers or seasonal hires who do not have medical insurance or paid time off.

In a public petition, the group called for the warehouse’s station manager and regional manager to meet with Amazonians United Sacramento to discuss giving part-time employees paid time off.

Part-time employees working a minimum of 20 hours a week are eligible for paid time off, according to Amazon’s jobs website, except those working in California.

A representative with Amazon did not respond to comment on why Amazon’s paid time off policy excludes California part-time employees.

On Monday, 36 employees at the West Sacramento warehouse walked out in protest, in addition to submitting to management the public petition that has garnered more than 4,000 signatures. Earlier this month, Amazonians United Sacramento submitted a similar internal petition signed by 218 employees, according to the group.

“Most DSM1 (the West Sacramento delivery station) workers have second jobs, childcare responsibilities, or elder care responsibilities that prevent us from transferring jobs to get the benefits we already deserve,” the public petition reads. “We’re not going to let Amazon dodge the real issue.”

Source article: Jason Pierce @ sacbee.com - Dec. 26, 2019