Amazon’s Robotic Fulfillment Centers Have Higher Serious Injury Rates

Amazon deployed robotic warehouse systems starting in 2014 to automate product retrieval and increase efficiency. Internal company records from 2016-2019 covering over 150 fulfillment centers show that injury rates increased each year, reaching 7.7 serious injuries per 100 employees in 2019, which was 33% higher than 2016 and nearly double the industry standard. Robotic warehouses had over 50% higher injury rates than traditional facilities. The robots enabled production quotas to more than double from 100 items per hour to up to 400 items per hour for workers called 'pickers.' During Prime Day 2019 and holiday peaks, injury rates spiked to the highest levels of the year, with nearly 400 serious injuries recorded during Prime Day week alone. Amazon publicly denied that injury rates increased during peak periods while internal reports acknowledged expecting injury increases due to mandatory overtime and seasonal worker influx. The company terminated contracts with medical clinics that recorded too many injuries and pressured replacement clinics to avoid making injuries 'OSHA recordable.' More than 250,000 warehouse workers were affected by these conditions, with specific cases documented of workers suffering hip injuries, repetitive stress injuries, and other physical harm from the accelerated pace required by robotic systems.