Amazon—Senate investigation found Amazon warehouse injury rate double the industry average, company knowingly chose speed over safety
An 18-month Senate HELP Committee investigation led by Sen. Bernie Sanders, reviewing 7 years of data and interviewing 130+ workers, found Amazon warehouse workers suffered 6.6 serious injuries per 100 workers — more than double the 3.2 rate at non-Amazon warehouses. Internal 'Project Soteria' studies found speed caused injuries, but Amazon chose not to implement recommendations to protect its bottom line. OSHA cited Amazon at multiple facilities for ergonomic hazards and inadequate medical care. Amazon settled with OSHA in December 2024 for $145,000 and agreed to corporate-wide ergonomic measures.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Corporate Transparency | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Worker Rights | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.510 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (critical ×2) × confidence (0.68)× agency (negligent ×0.5)
Evidence (2 signals)
OSHA reached largest-of-its-kind settlement with Amazon requiring corporate-wide ergonomic measures
OSHA reached a settlement with Amazon requiring a $145,000 penalty, corporate-wide ergonomic measures at all warehouse facilities, and biannual meetings with OSHA for two years. This followed citations at multiple facilities in 2022-2023 for exposing workers to ergonomic hazards and inadequate medical care.
Senate HELP Committee released report exposing Amazon's warehouse injury crisis and data manipulation
Sen. Bernie Sanders' Senate HELP Committee released an 18-month investigation finding Amazon warehouse injury rates are double the industry average at 6.6 per 100 workers. The report found Amazon's internal Project Soteria identified the speed-injury link but the company chose not to implement recommendations, and manipulated data to appear safer.