Amazon’s Ontario warehouses saw a sharp increase in workplace injuries over the pandemic, with the company ordered to pay out $4.4 million to 1,330 injured workers in 2022.
Health and safety data published by Ontario’s Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (via Press Progress) detailed the increase for Amazon Canada Fulfillment Services ULC — the corporate entity that operates Amazon’s fulfillment centre warehouses. According to the data, Amazon warehouses had 432 total allowed injury claims with a $1 million payout in 2019, which rose to 570 with a $1.4 million payout in 2020 and 980 in 2021 with a $2.7 million payout. Payouts totalled $8.5 million since the start of the pandemic.
The data shows that most of the injuries were to the lower back (22 percent), and 62 percent of injuries were sprains and strains.
Press Progress reported that the workplace injuries highlight the hazardous working conditions at Amazon’s warehouses, pointing to long-running complaints from workers about pressures to process orders faster. The publication also pointed to a report from last year about leaked documents showing that Amazon set productivity monitors at the 75th percentile to ensure 25 percent of workers were always falling behind.
Amazon told Press Progress that it didn’t have “enough information to fully fact-check” the data from WSIB and suggested the increase in injury claims could be related to the company adding 12,000 new employees in Ontario over the last few years.
However, it’s worth noting that the WSIB numbers are likely lower than the actual injury rate because Amazon reportedly objects to most or all injury claims staff file with the board. Press Progress cited a Toronto Star report from before the pandemic that found Amazon challenged nearly 80 percent of serious injury claims filed between early 2018 and 2019.
Source: WSIB Via: Press Progress
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