The U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) wants Amazon corporate to do the heavy lifting on ergonomics reform.
The e-commerce giant has reached a settlement with OSHA pertaining to a variety of safety-related citations the agency dropped on the company and has been litigating since 2022.
Those citations alleged that the company put warehouse workers at risk of injury, particularly “serious lower back and other musculoskeletal disorders” onslaught by a rapid pace of work and below-par conditions. In exchange for company-wide ergonomics upgrades from Amazon, OSHA has agreed to withdraw nine of 10 citations it handed down. Amazon accepted the remaining citation, which OSHA assigned at an Illinois-based warehouse.
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The company said that the Illinois warehouse handles “large bulky items like furniture and TVs.” It agreed to make changes to lessen risk factors related to ergonomics in the warehouse by “better enforcing our existing policies,” according to a statement made by the company.
Amazon has also agreed to pay a fine of $145,000. That covers about 90 percent of the fines that would have been accrued by all 10 citations, per OSHA. The suggested fine for the alleged infractions at the Illinois warehouse was $15,625.
In addition to the payout, the settlement requires Amazon to allow OSHA authorities to complete monitoring inspections at the warehouses where it initially cited the now-dropped hazards.
Amazon has also agreed to up its game on ergonomics in its facilities across the nation to prevent future injuries; according to OSHA, it must allow “multiple methods for employees to communicate with Amazon regarding ergonomic concerns and potential solutions, including methods that permit employees to submit concerns anonymously, if desired.” Anonymous reports and complaints could help quell fear of retaliation.
Amazon is expected to keep data on the effectiveness of its ergonomic practices at a slew of sites owned by the company, including its fulfillment centers, sortation centers, delivery stations and other facilities inside OSHA’s jurisdiction.
The settlement as a whole pertains to corporate-wide requirements and initiatives at Amazon. Seema Nanda, the Department of Labor’s solicitor, said the fact that the goliath agreed to company-wide improvements based on citations at just 10 of its myriad facilities marks a step forward for workers’ safety and rights.
“Corporate-wide settlements can be a critical tool to protect workers from health and safety violations because they protect the most workers and can incentivize companies to solve underlying problems. This settlement requires Amazon to take action at the corporate level to ensure corporate-wide ergonomic requirements are effectively implemented at its warehouses nationwide,” Nanda said in a statement.
She noted that, should Amazon fail to meet the requirements outlined in the settlement at a whole-company level, the Department of Labor can enforce the agreement in court.
Had the two parties failed to reach a settlement, formal trials would have begun in January 2025.
The settlement was announced on Dec. 19, just days after a Senate probe found that Amazon allegedly manipulated its data to make its warehouses appear safer than they truly are.
And according to OSHA, the settlement does not affect the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York’s investigation into Amazon, which focuses around whether the company has been working to hide its injury rates and other safety issues at its warehouses nationwide.
