Amazon clarifies steps being taken for safety of its workers

Tesla and Amazon were recently listed as two of the most dangerous places to work at. Although Tesla responded with steps the motoring giant is taking to improve safety, Amazon had yet to respond.

The retail giant recently gave its own statement regarding the matter.

The advocacy group ‘National Council for Occupational Safety and Health’ (COSH) released ‘The Dirty Dozen 2018’ list where Amazon and Tesla were ranked as two of the most dangerous places to work based on factory and warehouse conditions.

The companies made it to the list due to their higher than average injury rate, unnecessary risks and unwillingness to address workers’ concerns. They pointed out stats regarding the number of deaths and injuries that took place at both companies.

In a statement sent to Business Recorder, Amazon explains how ensuring associates’ safety is their ‘number one’ priority. Amazon stated they are constantly trying to improve safety standards using various methods including reduction in physical risk through the design of processes, equipment and work areas, applying high standard of safety performance every day and improving capabilities.

As per the company response, they have also initiated the ‘Safety Leadership Index’ for all US operations. Through this program, every single employee is surveyed by answering set of questions every month in order to measure the perception of safety in their facility.

Please find below Amazon’s complete statement:

“Amazon has created over 130,000 jobs in the last year alone and now employees over 560,000 people around the world. Ensuring the safety of these associates is our number one priority. Operational meetings, new hire orientation, process training and new process development begin with safety and have safety metrics and audits integrated within each program.  We expect our leadership to continually improve the safety results of their operations by reducing physical risk through the design of processes, equipment and work areas, applying high standards of safety performance each day, improving capabilities through training and coaching using rigorous management reporting systems to track and audit their progress. We have also launched the Safety Leadership Index across our US operations where every associate is surveyed through our Connections Program answering a series of questions each month to measure the perception of safety in their facility. Each of these safety programs and measures apply to everyone working in our facilities — full time, part time, seasonal, and temporary. While any serious incident is one too many, we learn and improve our programs working to prevent future incidents.  We are proud of safety record and thousands of Amazonians work hard every day innovating ways to make it even better. We encourage anyone to come see for themselves by taking a tour at one of our fulfillment centers.”