If you are injured at the workplace, you would normally want to report it to your supervisor and hopefully qualify for workers compensation to apply to your medical bills and make up for any time that you missed as a result of your work related injury. However, once you make your report to your employer and your own individual case is taken care of for you, the situation is mostly out of your hands in what the company reports to the other employees or in their reportage on the risks and injuries that take place at their workplace.
According to a recent report by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, commonly known as OSHA, a facility run by Amazon in Robbinsville, New Jersey, had neglected to report more than twenty five injuries and illnesses sustained by their employees during their employment. The federal agency had also sent hazard-alert letters to the Amazon company as a whole for safety violations in the workplace, for dangerous workplace practices that put their employees at risk during their job.
The first hazard alert letter dealt with the unfair and dangerous working conditions to which employees were subjected, including mandatory overtime, standing for ten hour shifts, and repeatedly lifting and bending at the waist. A second letter noted that the medical staff on site were administering care outside their certifications, and that the medical care overall was not properly licensed to care for the employees.
An employee complained to OSHA about these and other additional offenses by Amazon, including failure to report accident records and ongoing exposure to dangerous practices, such as working without protective gear and exposing employees to electrical hazards and the risk of amputation. Following this claim, OSHA began to investigate what they had already suspected—Amazon was acting unsafely and putting their employees in repeated danger. Their search confirmed this even further, and unearthed 26 unreported injuries, including back, shoulder, and knee pain, as well as a lack of protective equipment and many areas where the employees were at risk for unintended amputation.
Following their investigation, OSHA put in place a number of recommendations for Amazon to improve their workplace, including providing an additional rest period and a space to rest. The letter was extremely critical, outlining to the supervisors exactly how the practices to which they were subjecting their employees could negatively affect their long term health.
For those who have been following this type of workplace injuries and the failure to report, it may come as no surprise that Amazon is yet again causing undue suffering to its employees. This has been documented time and again in the press, but they are somehow still continuing to do so. If you are an employee of a major corporation like this, or even a small business, you still have rights to fair working conditions that must be reported and addressed.
For a free consultation on your rights following a workplace accident, injury, or illness, call me, John Schettino, LLC for more information on workers compensation. I can be reached by phone at 201-498-9768 and look forward to getting more information about your case and how I can help you resolve it.