Amazon Workers are Injured Almost Twice as Often as Other Warehouse Workers in Massachusetts

­Key Findings

An analysis of the latest available data self-reported by Amazon to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration shows:

1. Amazon warehouse workers are injured at almost double the rate of non-Amazon warehouse workers in Massachusetts.

• In 2021, the injury rate for Amazon’s warehousing and logistics facilities in Massachusetts was 1.8 times the injury rate at non-Amazon warehousing and logistics facilities in Massachusetts—10.3 per 100 full-time employees (FTEs) compared with the statewide injury rate at non-Amazon facilities of 5.8 per 100 FTEs.[1] This is equivalent to one injury for every 9 workers.

2. Amazon workers in Massachusetts suffer the most serious types of injuries more than twice as often as their non-Amazon counterparts.

• In 2021, Amazon workers suffered the most serious type of work-related injuries—those serious enough to require missing days of work or transfer to less strenuous job duties—at a rate of 9.3 injuries per 100 FTEs. This is more than twice the rate for similar workers at non-Amazon warehousing and logistics facilities in Massachusetts, which was 4.8 per 100 FTEs at non-Amazon facilities.
• Nine out of 10 injuries at Amazon warehouse facilities in 2021 were severe enough to require missing days of work or transfer to less strenuous job duties.

3. Amazon warehouse workers’ injuries increased by 65 percent in Massachusetts from 2020 to 2021.

• The injury rate for workers employed at Amazon’s warehousing and logistics facilities in Massachusetts increased by 65 percent from 2020 to 2021. The rate of worker injuries rose from 6.3 per 100 full time employees (FTEs) in 2020 to 10.3 per 100 FTEs in 2021. The rise in the injury rates corresponds with Amazon reinstituting its productivity tracking and disciplinary policies in the fall of 2020 after the company had suspended its policies at the start of the pandemic.[2]

4. Worker absences due to injury rose 60 percent at Massachusetts Amazon facilities from 2020 to 2021.

• The increase in injury rates parallels a rise in days missed from work due to injury. The number of days Amazon workers spent away from work recovering from injuries increased by 60 percent from 2020 to 2021—from 172.3 days per 100 FTEs in 2020 to 275.6 per 100 FTEs in 2021. In addition, the number of days Amazon workers spent on light duty due to injury more than doubled from 2020 to 2021 from 110.1 days per 100 FTEs in 2020 to 238 days per 100 FTEs in 2021.

5. The injury rate at Massachusetts Amazon facilities is 30 percent higher than the national Amazon average.

• The injury rate for Amazon establishments located in Massachusetts is higher than the national rate for Amazon facilities. In 2021, the injury rate at Amazon warehouse facilities in Massachusetts was over 30 percent higher than the national rate (10.3 per 100 FTEs in Massachusetts compared with 7.9 per 100 FTEs nationwide[3]).

Endnotes

[1] This analysis includes Amazon and non-Amazon establishments that fall under the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes: 492110, 493110, 493120, and 493190.

[2] CNBC (October 2020). “Amazon has resumed policies that penalize workers for taking too many breaks, just in time for Prime Day.” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/10/14/amazon-resumes-policy-that-dings-workers-for-taking-too-many-breaks.html

[3] The Strategic Organizing Center (April 2022). “The Injury Machine: How Amazon’s Production System Hurts Workers.” https://thesoc.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/The-Injury-Machine_How-Amazons-Production-System-Hurts-Workers.pdf