OSHA vacates all but one of its previous citations issued to Amazon

In 2022, OSHA opened an investigation focused on concerns about Amazon’s safety practices across our operations network. Today, OSHA agreed to withdraw all but one of the ergonomic citations it issued to us, concluding its investigation. The settlement comes just months after a judge in Washington state dismissed similar claims against Amazon brought by the state’s safety regulator.

To reach today’s settlement, we cooperated fully with OSHA—producing thousands of documents, many years of data, and detailed records of our programs, processes, and procedures. These show that, as we’ve reported, we’ve been making meaningful progress toward our vision to be the safest employer in our respective industries. Our U.S. recordable incident rate (any work-related injuries requiring more than basic first aid) improved by 28% since 2019, and lost time injuries (those requiring someone to take time away from work to recover) improved by 75%. And for ergonomic injuries—also known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), which can include sprains and strains and are the leading cause of work-related injuries across all industries—our rate of recordable incidents improved by 27% since 2019. We’re committed to continuing that improvement.

Today’s agreement acknowledges our progress and notes that we should keep implementing and following our existing comprehensive ergonomics policies and procedures. There isn’t a claim of wrong-doing on Amazon’s part for the withdrawn citations, nor a directive to adopt new safety controls. We appreciate OSHA’s willingness to consider all the facts and reach today’s agreement with us, and we look forward to continuing to work with them going forward. Here are more details about the settlement.

Overview of the settlement. OSHA is withdrawing nine of the 10 ergonomic citations at the heart of its case, and we’re accepting one citation at MDW8 in Illinois, a site that handles large bulky items like furniture and TVs, on a specific claim about handling TVs where we will agree to make changes to ensure we can further reduce ergonomic risks to employees by better enforcing our existing policies. In addition, while not mentioned in the settlement, OSHA is withdrawing a citation issued to ALB1 in New York, a sort center near Albany. In that matter, OSHA alleged that there were instances where onsite personnel in the site’s wellness center—formerly known as AMCARE—did not properly refer employees for outside medical care. These allegations would have been a clear violation of Amazon’s policies, which OSHA acknowledged (our policy clearly states that employees can—and should—seek outside care whenever they need or want it). We believed OSHA’s citation lacked merit, which is consistent with their decision to withdraw it.

As agreed in the settlement, Amazon will continue leveraging our corporate team of certified ergonomists to ensure compliance across all sites in the network. We’ll also continue our regular engagement with our Associate Safety Committees, whose feedback we use to make changes and innovate new solutions when needed. We’ll continue our mandatory ergonomics training programs and track compliance to verify trainings are taken regularly, including during onboarding. Finally, we’ll keep conducting rigorous risk assessments for process paths at our sites.

The settlement also acknowledges our various efforts to reduce injuries and MSDs: our overall recordable incident rates have improved; we signed the National Safety Council’s MSD Pledge in 2022 to reduce ergonomic-related injuries; we have multiple, strong mechanisms in place for employees to provide feedback and we action on their suggestions; and we’ve dedicated more than $1 billion since 2019 to safety projects and enhancements, including those that address MSDs.

Going forward. OSHA plays an important role in regulating workplace safety across the country, and we thank them for working with us to reach a reasonable agreement today and conclude this investigation. We look forward to continuing to work with them on important safety issues, and we’ll continue working together and investing in safety in the years ahead because nothing is more important than the safety of our teammates. We’re also grateful to our 1.1 million front-line employees and over 9,000 health and safety professionals around the world who work hard every day to ensure a safe, comfortable, and inclusive working environment. We’re pleased to have this matter behind us so we can continue focusing together on our goal to have the safest workplace in the industries in which we operate.