Posts Tagged ‘ working conditions ’

Amazon.com Warehouse Worker Complaints get Outed

September 20th, 2011. By AbiK

If a company pays to have private ambulances and paramedics on-site at its warehouse facility on hot days, does that tell you something?

I don’t know about you, but if I’m working there, it would tell me that there’s an added element of risk to my workday. Risk of things like heat exhaustion, heat stroke, heat cramps, heat rash…particularly, if I’m working at an Amazon.com warehouse where working conditions include long hours (8-12 hour days, sometimes with mandatory overtime) and, according to an Amazon.com Warehouse Associate-Picker job posting, I’m lifting up to 49 lbs of merchandise at a time.

Such conditions were the focus of a recent expose done by The Morning Call‘s Spencer Soper. The Morning Call interviewed a total of twenty current and former Amazon.com warehouse workers on working conditions at Amazon’s Breinigsville, PA warehouse. What Soper found out was a bit disturbing.

The worker allegations included accounts of:

• The heat index in the warehouse reaching 102 degrees on June 2, 2011 and 15 workers collapsing;
• The heat index hitting 110 degrees on the third floor of the warehouse;
• Workers being pressured to continue working and “make rate” (i.e., productivity levels) in extreme heat to avoid risk of job loss;
• Workers who were given ‘voluntary time off ‘ if the heat index exceeded 110 degrees—but who were subsequently given points—Amazon.com’s version of demerits that can add up over time to job loss—unless a doctor’s note was provided. (It’s reported that Amazon’s policy on this has now changed; workers who head home due to heat lose pay for the hours missed, but they do not get points).

Sounds like an employer-of-choice to me.

Being a bit jaded, I went over to Glassdoor.com to check out the employee (staff and contract) reviews of work life at Amazon.com. I scanned the warehouse- and distribution-related entries and found that the PA warehouse was not just a bunch of disgruntled workers—such gripes are seemingly pervasive at Amazon.com: Long hours. Pressure to make rate. Micro-managing. Mandatory overtime. Points. Continual churn of contract or temp workers who seek full-time status, but never get it.

So much for the “fun” work environment that Amazon’s (or actually, Integrity Staffing Solutions) job postings tout.

Needless to say, some Amazon workers had made complaints to OSHA. And, in fairness, according to The Morning Call article, Amazon’s Allen Forney—the PA site safety manager—has also reported to OSHA the heat-related incidents and how Amazon has responded to such incidents on days of excessive heat.

Forney stated in a letter to OSHA (6/13/11) that on 6/3/11, six “employees were treated at a local hospital ER for non-work related medical conditions triggered by the heat” (note the “non-work related”…CYA all the way). Of course, OSHA does require that employers must “Notify OSHA within 8 hours of a workplace incident in which there is a death or when three or more workers go to a hospital.”

Forney also notes that Amazon has put in place measures such as adding fans; installing heat index sensors in March that alert managers when the index rises above 90 degrees; and purchasing ‘2,000 cooling bandannas’ and cooling vests for workers. Managers also ‘walk the building’ to ensure workers get enough water. And, when the temperature is between 90 and 99 degrees, workers get an additional five minutes of break time; if the temp hits 100 to 114 degrees, workers ‘typically’ get a five-minute break every hour, and ‘heavier work’ gets moved to cooler times during the day. Gee, thanks.

Of note, it has to get to 115 degrees before, according to Forney, “the senior manager on duty will decide whether to close down the entire shift.” Yes, 115 degrees.

For the record, as fans seem to be a big part of the heat index management plan at Amazon.com, a quick visit over to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) provided this regarding use of fans for heat-related symptoms:

Electric fans may provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the high 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Taking a cool shower or bath or moving to an air-conditioned place is a much better way to cool off. Air conditioning is the strongest protective factor against heat-related illness. Exposure to air conditioning for even a few hours a day will reduce the risk for heat-related illness. Consider visiting a shopping mall or public library for a few hours.

The inclusion of OSHA in all this begs the question, “so what did OSHA do about it?”

OSHA issued recommendations. OSHA recommended that Amazon reduce warehouse temperatures and humidity, but OSHA did not provide the temperature at which the warehouse should be maintained. OSHA also recommended hourly breaks in a cool area, and informing workers and
supervisors of the actual heat index or temperature in order for them to increase
monitoring as it gets hotter, and to provide personal fans at each work station. (Didn’t I just quote the CDC as saying fans wouldn’t help in preventing heat-related illness? Go figure.)

So OSHA falls short of actually putting a stake in the ground as to what temperature is acceptable for safe working conditions—and as a result, I can’t help but put a little blame on OSHA’s shoulders. If you only follow what you’re being mandated to do, well… But common sense at the very least should prevail over at Amazon.com. When you need to hire ambulances and paramedics and park them right outside your warehouse (next the the break truck?)—that should tell you something. Likewise, when workers are passing out or leaving to go home or being carted off the the hospital, it should tell you something.

And in the interim, I have something to tell Amazon.com—that lovely air conditioning unit shown above cools up to a 4,000 square foot area—and it’s available on your own damn site for $8,295.

Tags: amazon warehouse, Amazon.com, CDC, OSHA, worker's rights, working conditions
Posted in Employment | 30 Comments »