Amazon.com will implement new safety measures at all of its U.S. facilities to settle a federal agency’s claims that it failed to prevent workers from developing back problems and other ergonomic injuries, the agency said on Thursday.
Amazon settled a series of complaints by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration involving 10 facilities across the country, which were set to go to trial before administrative judges next year, OSHA said in a release.
The company will adopt measures such as adjustable height workstations, ergonomic mats, harnesses and job rotations at all of its fulfillment, sorting and delivery centers and establish a process to review and correct hazards identified by workers, OSHA said. Certain policies are already in place at some facilities, according to the agency.
Amazon will also pay $145,000 in penalties, about 90 per cent of what the agency had sought in the underlying cases.
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
OSHA director Douglas Parker in a statement said the settlement would impact hundreds of thousands of Amazon workers.
“The ball is in the company’s court. OSHA stands ready to work with their ergonomics team to evaluate their progress and verify the commitments they made to OSHA,” Parker said.
The announcement came on the same day that workers at seven of Amazon’s U.S. facilities walked off the job to protest what they say is the retail giant’s unfair treatment of its employees.
Safety issues have been central to a nationwide campaign to unionize workers at Amazon facilities, many of whom are employed by third-party contractors. Unions, worker advocates and many Democratic officials have criticized Amazon for allegedly imposing production quotas on workers that force them to work at a dangerous pace and develop injuries.
Amazon has said that it does not impose quotas and has invested billions of dollars in worker safety.
OSHA said the settlement does not affect a separate investigation by federal prosecutors in New York into whether Amazon fraudulently concealed injury rates and worker safety hazards at U.S. warehouses.
(Reporting By Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)