AMZN
By Connor Hart
Amazon.com reached a settlement with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, concluding the department's investigation into the e-commerce giant's safety practices and resolving all but one of its previous citations.
The settlement will help better protect employees at Amazon facilities from hazardous working conditions that can lead to serious lower-back and other musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs, the Labor Department said Thursday.
OSHA previously issued 10 ergonomic citations to Amazon. Ergonomics refers to fitting a job to a person, helping to lessen muscle fatigue, increase productivity and reduce the number and severity of work-related MSDs, according to the department.
With the settlement, OSHA is withdrawing nine of its citations. Amazon is accepting one citation at an Illinois facility, MDW8, which handles large bulky items, such as furniture and TVs. The citation refers to a specific claim about its handling of TVs, the company said.
"We will agree to make changes to ensure we can further reduce ergonomic risks to employees by better enforcing our existing policies," Amazon said.
Under the agreement, Amazon will be required to ensure ergonomics requirements are effectively implemented in all of its fulfillment and sortation centers, delivery stations and facilities in federal OSHA's jurisdiction.
It additionally requires Amazon to implement a dispute-resolution process through which workers can raise workplace hazards. Amazon, which will pay a $145,000 penalty, will meet with OSHA biannually to discuss workplace safety, and the department will retain the right to conduct onsite inspections if the company fails to comply with the agreement.
"Corporate-wide settlements can be a critical tool to protect workers from health and safety violations because they protect the most workers and can incentivize companies to solve underlying problems," Solicitor of Labor Seema Nanda said. "This settlement requires Amazon to take action at the corporate level to ensure corporate-wide ergonomic requirements are effectively implemented at its warehouses nationwide."
The settlement comes as thousands of Amazon workers went on strike Thursday amid contract negotiations and the company's refusal to recognize the Teamsters labor union.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union that represents the Amazon employees, said it represents nearly 10,000 Amazon workers who are fighting for higher wages, better benefits and safer conditions at work. Amazon said the union had threatened, intimidated and attempted to coerce its employees and third-party drivers.
Write to Connor Hart at connor.hart@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
12-19-24 1441ET