Maybe this issue is specific to certain locations, markets, or segments of the logistics chain. I'd imagine that employee turnover, the products being shipped, the tasks being performed, and product volume varies significantly based on the particular location. They have a lot of facilities doing a lot of different things. The media usually mentions 'fulfillment' specifically with these articles, but that's only one part of their logistics operations.
If this is correct, then it would not be surprising if a few warehouses are outliers even if the overall figures are reasonable. After all, randomness (both in terms of overall luck, and the distribution of shitty managers) will end up skewing a few of the results very high or very low.
The places with the longest living and happiest people are rural towns.
The places with the shortest living, most stressed people are also rural towns.
Small numbers breed statistical anomalies because it’s easier for 10 people in a town of 100 to happen to have bad or great lives than it is for 10000 of 100000.
Amazon has sort centers, distribution centers, returns processing centers, robotic fulfillment centers, non-robotic fulfillment centers, and maybe other stuff I don't know about.
The people at different warehouse types are often doing different jobs.
According to a quick search, JFK8 is fulfillment center where they do pick and pack, and it's also one of the warehouses with the Kiva robots.
Couldn't find too much about PDX9.
Alternatively is it still a large one? They have large hubs that serve larger areas, not everything is around to be serviced by a local hub.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Amazon+Fulfillment+Center+...
Amazon's response sort of touches on this, saying they've pushed for recording every incident, big or small. 3-4 could be from underreporting or from better working conditions (or both).
https://www.osha.gov/report.html
Amazon's PR people are pretending the high numbers are because they are reporting papercuts, but papercuts would be rejected for the government stats. This is "severe injury or death" reporting only.
"According to the report, workers whose injuries were logged by Amazon were each forced to miss an average of 64.04 days of employment."
Does that sound like papercuts? An average of three months off work, if they even return?
This is wrong. It's from an analysis of Amazon's own incident logs that OSHA requires companies to keep (OSHA form 300A[1].) The government doesn't "reject" incidents from these logs. Additionally, a recordable injury is any of the following[2]
- Any work-related fatality.
- Any work-related injury or illness that results in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transfer to another job.
- Any work-related injury or illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid.
- Any work-related diagnosed case of cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones or teeth, and punctured eardrums.
- There are also special recording criteria for work-related cases involving: needlesticks and sharps injuries; medical removal; hearing loss; and tuberculosis.
[1] https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04-For...
I worry about Amazon workers in more business friendly places. If they are doing this in a regulation heavy city/state like NY, other places must be horrific.