12-26-2021 , 03:35 AM
https://timesnewsexpress.com/news/financ...cials-say/ Amazon tried to bar state officials from entering warehouses to investigate workplace safety complaints, officials say
2 days ago
Amazon tried to bar workplace safety inspectors from entering warehouses near Seattle, state officials said.
The company also made “multiple” and “direct” attempts to “undermine our data collection,” the officials said.
In a groundbreaking citation earlier this year, Washington state regulators found the pace of work at Amazon’s warehouses violated the law.
Amazon has attempted to “undermine” workplace safety investigations at multiple warehouses south of Seattle in the past six months, including by trying to keep inspectors out of the facilities, the Washington State attorney general said in court filings last week.
The state claims that Amazon began blocking and confusing investigators after regulators hit the company with a groundbreaking worker safety violation in May, when it found the pace of work at an Amazon warehouse in DuPont, Washington, violated the law and created a hazardous working environment. Amazon has appealed the citation, which if upheld, could force the company to fundamentally alter how it manages its warehouses.
The state’s investigation followed a report from the investigative news outlet Reveal which found that workers at Amazon fulfillment centers were getting seriously hurt at rates more than double the industry average. Workers at the DuPont warehouse, Reveal found, were hurt at a higher rate than at any of Amazon’s other large US warehouses.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the documents filed last week, three state inspectors accused Amazon of “multiple” and “direct” attempts to “undermine our data collection” at Washington facilities since the citation in May. Their statements were attached to a request from the state attorney general’s office for a warrant forcing Amazon to allow inspectors full access to its warehouses, which a Seattle court granted last week.
In two cases, Amazon attempted to bar inspectors from entering its warehouses, the state said, including once by refusing to allow an inspector who had left the facility on break to re-enter without a warrant. Amazon also attempted to interfere with regulators’ investigation in other ways, the state said. Company officials at warehouses in Kent, Washington, and DuPont told warehouse workers they did not need to comply with state investigators, and would “consistently” remove workers or tell them they “immediately needed to leave their work and receive training” when an inspector was monitoring them, according to the report.
Inspectors also said that Amazon had shown “considerable resistance” in response to their requests for information like worker safety data, saying the company either provided incomplete information or “simple refusals to provide the requested information.” Amazon also objected to inspectors’ requests to use wearable technology to monitor the probability of some musculoskeletal disorders like strains, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome, they said.
The King County Superior Court, where the attorney general’s office filed its claim, ordered Amazon to stop interfering with state investigators last week.
Amazon in recent months has launched what it says are a suite of workplace-safety initiatives to lower injury rates at its facilities. However, the scope of the Washington inspectors’ investigation, detailed in the court filings, suggests regulators have questions about the efficacy of the company’s program.
Regulators asked the court to force Amazon to turn over surveillance footage and information, data related to how often employees use ibuprofen vending machines, as well as internal documentation related to the company’s “plan for addressing MSDs [musculoskeletal disorders] as advertised.”
2 days ago
Amazon tried to bar workplace safety inspectors from entering warehouses near Seattle, state officials said.
The company also made “multiple” and “direct” attempts to “undermine our data collection,” the officials said.
In a groundbreaking citation earlier this year, Washington state regulators found the pace of work at Amazon’s warehouses violated the law.
Amazon has attempted to “undermine” workplace safety investigations at multiple warehouses south of Seattle in the past six months, including by trying to keep inspectors out of the facilities, the Washington State attorney general said in court filings last week.
The state claims that Amazon began blocking and confusing investigators after regulators hit the company with a groundbreaking worker safety violation in May, when it found the pace of work at an Amazon warehouse in DuPont, Washington, violated the law and created a hazardous working environment. Amazon has appealed the citation, which if upheld, could force the company to fundamentally alter how it manages its warehouses.
The state’s investigation followed a report from the investigative news outlet Reveal which found that workers at Amazon fulfillment centers were getting seriously hurt at rates more than double the industry average. Workers at the DuPont warehouse, Reveal found, were hurt at a higher rate than at any of Amazon’s other large US warehouses.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the documents filed last week, three state inspectors accused Amazon of “multiple” and “direct” attempts to “undermine our data collection” at Washington facilities since the citation in May. Their statements were attached to a request from the state attorney general’s office for a warrant forcing Amazon to allow inspectors full access to its warehouses, which a Seattle court granted last week.
In two cases, Amazon attempted to bar inspectors from entering its warehouses, the state said, including once by refusing to allow an inspector who had left the facility on break to re-enter without a warrant. Amazon also attempted to interfere with regulators’ investigation in other ways, the state said. Company officials at warehouses in Kent, Washington, and DuPont told warehouse workers they did not need to comply with state investigators, and would “consistently” remove workers or tell them they “immediately needed to leave their work and receive training” when an inspector was monitoring them, according to the report.
Inspectors also said that Amazon had shown “considerable resistance” in response to their requests for information like worker safety data, saying the company either provided incomplete information or “simple refusals to provide the requested information.” Amazon also objected to inspectors’ requests to use wearable technology to monitor the probability of some musculoskeletal disorders like strains, tendinitis, and carpal tunnel syndrome, they said.
The King County Superior Court, where the attorney general’s office filed its claim, ordered Amazon to stop interfering with state investigators last week.
Amazon in recent months has launched what it says are a suite of workplace-safety initiatives to lower injury rates at its facilities. However, the scope of the Washington inspectors’ investigation, detailed in the court filings, suggests regulators have questions about the efficacy of the company’s program.
Regulators asked the court to force Amazon to turn over surveillance footage and information, data related to how often employees use ibuprofen vending machines, as well as internal documentation related to the company’s “plan for addressing MSDs [musculoskeletal disorders] as advertised.”