Warehouse Safety
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, warehouses and storage facilities have by far the highest injury rate of any industry. As the world’s largest online retailer and marketplace, what is Amazon doing to improve safety for their workers? Our Sales Engineers at DJ Products, makers of the eco-friendly trailer dolly, take a look at Amazon’s recent activities and policy changes.
Amazon Invests in Employee Safety
In 2019, Amazon launched WorkingWell, a program designed to offer a number of wellness services to their workers. WorkingWell was implemented at 350 sites across North America and Europe, covering a total of 859,000 employees.
Despite this measure, Amazon’s continued growth has triggered extensive criticism about working conditions. Last year, in an effort to address these complaints, Amazon rolled out WorkingWell to their U.S. operations across the board. They also announced an ambitious goal to reduce recorded incident rates of worker injury and illness by 50 percent as of 2025. Overall, the company invested $300 millon in various safety projects during the year.
How Is Amazon Reducing Their Injury Rate?
Musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs, are a primary focus of these initiatives. MSDs make up approximately 40 percent of work-related injuries reported at Amazon. Many of them, such as sprains and strains due to repetitive motions, are associated with new employees.
John Dony, senior director at the National Safety Council, compared the situation to baseball coaches training pitchers in mechanics to help prevent risk of repetitive-motion injuries. In fact, Amazon has hired many certified athletic trainers to work as injury prevention specialists, providing one-on-one employee coaching and assisting with workstation ergonomics.
Other steps being taken by Amazon include:
-
- Daily meetings, called “Health & Safety Huddles,” to watch short interactive videos
- Hourly prompts asking employees to complete brief mental and physical exercises
- Addition of dedicated onsite wellness spaces
- Increased availability of healthy food options
Reduce Injury Risk with the Trailer Dolly from DJ Products
Are you doing enough to reduce the injury rate in your warehouse or storage facility? Contact us at 800.686.2651 to learn more about our material handling solutions from our friendly and helpful Sales Engineers.