Amazon recorded 5.6 injuries per 100 workers in 2019, the last full year of data, compared with the 4.8 rate nationally for the warehousing sector. So the firm, after years of criticism over worker safety at its depots, is establishing a program focused on improving the health and wellness of its hourly warehouse staffers, reports The Wall Street Journal (May 18, 2021).
The new program, called WorkingWell, aims to better educate employees on how to avoid workplace injuries and improve mental health on the job. The firm began testing parts of the program 2 years ago and plans to expand it to 1,000 facilities by the end of the year. Amazon said it aims to cut recordable incidents in half by 2025.
Amazon, which employs about 950,000 people in the U.S., says it is acting because of the frequency of workplace injuries in the warehousing industry and because the coronavirus pandemic has heightened the awareness of healthcare needs. It is particularly concerned about musculoskeletal disorders, known as MSDs, which account for 40% of its work-related injuries.
Under the WorkingWell program, warehouse employees gather on a rotating basis near their work stations to watch videos about injury prevention, including how to lift items properly. Employees also are given hourly prompts at their stations that guide them through 30-60 second stretching and breathing exercises.
The company also is installing kiosks where employees can watch videos that show guided meditations and calming scenes and sounds. New wellness zones provide dedicated spaces for workers to stretch or meditate. The company also is developing staffing schedules that rotate employees among jobs that use different muscle groups to reduce repetitive-stress injuries. Amazon’s program does not include a significant reduction in the rate at which employees are expected to work. That pace has been a source of worker complaints. Employees, for example, are expected to take about 300 items off shelves each hour.
Experts say introducing educational tools in workplaces is often not enough to substantially reduce injuries, and that measures that provide mechanical lifts or reconfigure how a workplace is organized have a bigger impact.
Classroom discussion questions:
- Comment on Amazon’s new program.
- What else can the firm do to improve worker safety?