Amazon fined for pushing hurt employees to work too quickly, Washington officials say

Amazon has been fined thousands of dollars after Washington regulators said one of its fulfillment centers was pressuring injured employees to work at speeds that didn’t give them enough time to recover.

Washington Department of Labor and Industries said in a citation May 4 that there was a “direct connection” between the pressure placed on warehouse workers to “maintain a very high pace of work” or face discipline and injuries at a DuPont fulfillment center. Amazon was also accused of pushing employees to work quickly without giving them “adequate recovery time” to reduce the risk of injury.

“The employer’s current approach has resulted in hazardous exposures in the workplace,” regulators said.

Amazon was fined $7,000 and it was noted as a “serious” violation.

Workers are required to perform manual labor such as lifting, carrying, repetitive motions, pushing, pulling, twisting, forceful exertions, long reaches, bending and awkward postures, which “are likely to continue to cause musculoskeletal disorders,” the citation states.

Inspectors also gave suggestions for Amazon to fix the violations, including changing the heights of conveyor belts, powered cart tuggers and pallet jacks to reduce pushing and pulling, carts with springs to reduce awkward lifting, height-adjustable worker platforms and rotating jobs to “reduce overloading individual employees.”

Amazon has until July 6 to make the corrections or request an extension.

This story was originally published May 27, 2021 at 11:02 AM with the headline "Amazon fined for pushing hurt employees to work too quickly, Washington officials say."