Amazon’s allegedly “dangerous and illegal” warehouses spur Senate probe

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Amazon must answer for its "abysmal safety record" after Amazon warehouse workers last year "suffered more serious injuries than all of the other warehouse workers in the country combined," the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) announced yesterday.

Launching an investigation, HELP Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) sent a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy alleging that "Amazon makes decisions" "at every turn"—from setting its unreasonable pace of work requirements to providing subpar onsite medical care—"that actively harm workers in the name of its bottom line."

In 2022, Amazon warehouse workers suffered nearly 39,000 injuries, Sanders' letter said, reporting injury rates that more than double what other US warehouses report. The majority of injuries—95 percent—are serious enough to require time off work or a modification of the workers' duties.