Amazon warehouses face expanded probes into safety hazards
Federal officials are sharpening their focus on Amazon’s workplace safety hazards.
Federal officials are sharpening their focus on Amazon’s workplace safety hazards.
Investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which is part of the Labor Department, visited Amazon sites near Albany, New York, Denver and Boise, Idaho, on Monday, according to a document viewed by CNBC.
The inspections are part of an ongoing probe launched last month by OSHA and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. OSHA officials in mid-July visited three other Amazon warehouses in New York, Chicago and Orlando in response to referrals from SDNY prosecutors.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said last month that the civil division is investigating potential workplace safety hazards at Amazon warehouses nationwide, as well as possible fraudulent conduct designed to hide injuries from OSHA and other regulators.
OSHA inspectors have so far zeroed in on Amazon’s injury and illness record-keeping, ergonomics program and Power Industrial Truck (known as PIT) operations, according to the latest document. PIT roles require employees to drive forklifts or other machinery to reach products on high shelves or move heavy items around the warehouse.
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