Amazon does not have a "silver bullet" to curtail the repetitive stress, strains and different accidents that plague its frontline employees, however the firm is striving to enhance security, CEO Andy Jassy stated on Thursday.
Jassy's pledge got here in his first letter to shareholders since succeeding Amazon founder Jeff Bezos as chief govt, and solely days after the discharge of a report that discovered practically half of all accidents in U.S. warehouses final yr occurred at Amazon.
Amazon critics have raised issues concerning the grinding bodily toll and harm dangers of working in one in every of its achievement facilities. The corporate employs a 3rd of U.S. warehouse employees, however is "accountable for practically one-half (49 p.c) of all accidents within the warehouse trade," in accordance with the Strategic Organizing Heart, a coalition of unions.
Amazon employees within the U.S. sustained greater than 34,000 "critical accidents" on the job final yr, a fee greater than twice as excessive than at warehouses owned by different corporations, the teams stated.
Jassy acknowledged a rise within the variety of accidents as tens of hundreds of staff joined its workforce, however argued the speed at which its folks obtained damage have been "little increased than the typical of our warehousing friends," whereas considerably decrease amongst its couriers and supply employees.
"However we do not search to be common. We need to be finest at school," wrote Jassy. Amazon has packages in place to assist employees keep away from repetitive-stress accidents, he stated, including, "We nonetheless have a methods to go."
Jassy's letter follows employees at a warehouse in New York Metropolis's Staten Island voting earlier this month to kind a union — the primary Amazon facility within the U.S. to take steps to prepare.
In his ultimate missive to shareholders final yr, Bezos declared: "I believe we have to do a greater job for workers."
Amazon final yr introduced a $12 million, five-year pact with the Nationwide Security Council to determine methods to cease probably the most prevalent accidents in its warehouses.