Amazon warehouses ‘dangerous and dehumanising’

Investigations building up “years’ worth of evidence” show Amazon warehouses are dangerous and dehumanising places to work, the GMB general union claims.

Last month the union published “shameful” new figures revealing that more than a thousand serious injuries at Amazon sites have been reported to health and safety bodies since 2016 – and it says the numbers are increasing.

Using Freedom of Information requests to local authorities, the GMB found 294 injuries were reported in 2020/21, up 27% on the previous year, when there were 231 reports. In 2016/17 the figure was 139. Central Bedfordshire had the most of any local authority, with 135 reports of serious injuries.

The union also obtained local authority inspection reports revealing concerns including injuries to workers, unsafe working conditions, Covid-19 concerns, poor health and safety record keeping, and lack of compliance with inspectors.

Separate new figures show more than a thousand ambulance callouts were made over the same period, rising by 56% over the course of the pandemic (between 2019/20 and 2020/21). The union reported that, despite Amazon’s claim that the vast majority were in relation to pre-existing conditions, ambulance trusts reported multiple callouts for falls, traumatic injuries and Covid cases.