Amazon’s automated warehouses have a higher rate of workers injured than people working in other types of storage facilities. Washington state’s workplace safety regulator is proposing a new “fulfillment center” classification to calculate workers’ compensation insurance rates.
Amazon’s rapid expansion of its logistics network in recent years has resulted in the hiring of hundreds of thousands of workers. The rising injury rate is an understandable consequence of that hiring binge, said Robert Hartwig. “This is an extraordinary challenge with new workers in demanding conditions, and there tends to be a temporary increase in occupational injuries and accidents,” he said. “Amazon is likely to take this bull by the horns and make the investments necessary to drive this injury rate back down in short order.” Read the entire article here.