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by dsfyu404ed 1252 days ago
>There warehouses are significantly worse than average in terms of injuries per hour.

Per man hour? Amazon is rich and super high volume relatively speaking. I got the impression their warehouses were pretty damn good compared to other warehouses handling consumer goods because the cost of hiccups is so high and they have a huge target on their back.
2 comments
Retric 1252 days ago
They don’t seem to be very concerned about injuries. One example that comes to mind is storing 40 lb bags of dog food such that people had to duck and lean over and drag them under a low shelf, that’s practically designed to cause back injuries and in fact caused multiple in a single warehouse.
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super256 1252 days ago
> They don’t seem to be very concerned about injuries. One example that comes to mind is storing 40 lb bags of dog food such that people had to duck and lean over and drag them under a low shelf, that’s practically designed to cause back injuries and in fact caused multiple in a single warehouse.

I used to work for Amazon a few years ago. I'm uncertain whether it was 12 pounds or 12 kg, but when a *tote weights more than this, you are supposed to handle the tote with two people.

*A tote is a small container of items, like this yellow one: https://media.wired.com/photos/593256d9aef9a462de9820d8/mast...

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saagarjha 1252 days ago
Are there 2 people generally available to do work like this?
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super256 1251 days ago
Yes. The workstations in our receiving and sorting lanes were right next to each other, and people can theoretically interrupt their current task within a few seconds.

The bigger issue is that no one is actually asking for help because of culture.

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dsfyu404ed 1252 days ago
Yeah but are they actually worse than the competition though? The whole industry is rife with that kind of crap (not like you're expect otherwise for a razor thin margin industry). I once worked somewhere they'd crib between the ground level pallets and first level racking so they could overload the racking (but my immediate manager was good and they put me on a forklift so I didn't care).

If anything the dehumanizing algorithmic tracking and optimization crap they do annoys me far more than the safety stuff.

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Retric 1252 days ago
Actual comparison of injury rates show yes they are much worse than the industry average.

Amazon’s extreme turnover rate is also significant. Someone that’s been doing a job for longer has both the skill and physical capacity to avid injury doing the same tasks as a new employee. This compounds over long shifts as people get tired, so limiting new employees to 8 vs 12 hour shifts would make a real difference among other options.

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GoldenMonkey 1252 days ago
Workplace safety is 3x worse than the industry norm. And they recently got fined by OSHA, across 3 different states. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/amazon-osha-fines_n_63c84509e...
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phil21 1252 days ago
> I got the impression their warehouses were pretty damn good compared to other warehouses

This is the correct impression. Amazon warehouses are almost always a step up in both pay and quality of life vs. the other local employment options.

Source: many friends work(ed) the industry. Amazon was seen as trading your autonomy in for a better overall place to work.

The memes about their warehouses being the worst in the world only really exist in white collar circles.

I could never work for them in such a job, because I require too much autonomy to be happy. I don't deal will with strict metric systems that they enforce. However, others really do enjoy that aspect of not having to put an ounce of thought or problem solving into their dayjob.

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ROTMetro 1252 days ago
Ex con here, lived in the halfway house. No one, and I mean NO ONE took Amazon warehouse jobs. And that is saying a lot. We took jobs with metrics requiring we pull 60 pieces of cardboard per minute out of garbage and trash from a 75mph conveyor belt over working Amazon. We had to wear kevlar glove 'sharps' protection so the needles in the trash didn't poke us and give us HIV. This was still preferred over Amazon warehouse jobs. Just saying....
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phil21 1252 days ago
I've noticed two personality types on this one. Those that don't mind trading one sort of "shitty" working conditions like you describe (challenging/dangerous work), because for lack of a better term you are treated like actual human beings.

The other personality I've noticed is someone who prefers a much more "sane" (boring but very predictable work) working environment with a ton of rules around it. They enjoy being treated more like robots.

I could be projecting here, but I've seen more than a dozen or so datapoints - of course directly connected to my personal bubble so there is bias at play.

I'd absolutely never take an Amazon warehouse job. I'd be looking at jobs like you describe.

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