Reports exposing Amazon’s mistreatment of workers
SOC Reports
May 16, 2025
Failure to Deliver: Amazon Falls Short on Safety
Four years after Amazon pledged to cut its injury rate in half by 2025, SOC’s analysis of the company’s 2024 injury data found that four in ten Amazon workers in the US worked in facilities where the injury rate increased year over year and the company’s serious injury rate remained nearly twice as high as its industry peers.
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May 16, 2024
Same Day Injury: Amazon Fails to Deliver Safe Jobs
SOC’s analysis of Amazon’s 2023 injury data found that the company’s overall injury rate was only 2% lower than it was in 2020, and nowhere near the company’s goal to cut its injury rate in half. SOC also analyzed injury case data and found that injury levels at Amazon warehouses increased by as much as 59% during the company's peak periods including Prime Day and the holiday shopping season.
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April 15, 2023
In Denial: Amazon’s Continuing Failure to Fix Its Injury Crisis
A year after Jeff Bezos claimed Amazon would become “Earth’s Safest Place to work,” SOC’s analysis of Amazon’s injury data found the company’s serious injury rate remained more than twice that of the rest of the warehouse industry. SOC’s report also summarized the growing number of state and federal investigations into Amazon’s safety record.
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May 15, 2022
The Worst Mile: Production Pressure and the Injury Crisis in Amazon’s Delivery System
Using injury data from Amazon’s delivery contractors, SOC’s analysis found that last mile delivery was one of the most dangerous jobs for workers, with nearly 1 injury for every 5 Amazon delivery workers, a 40% increase over the same rate in 2020.
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April 20, 2022
The Injury Machine: How Amazon’s Production System Hurts Workers
SOC’s analysis of Amazon’s injury data found that in 2021, the company employed around 1 in 3 warehouse workers in the US, but was responsible for almost half of all injuries in the warehouse industry. After Jeff Bezos promised to make Amazon “Earth’s Safest Place to Work,” SOC’s analysis found that the company’s injury rate actually increased 20% from 2020 to 2021.
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November 9, 2021
Hidden Pandemic: Amazon’s Secrecy and Obstruction During the COVID-19 Crisis
During the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon prioritized production and profits at the expense of worker safety. The SOC analyzed the company’s injury data and public actions to spotlight the company’s efforts to avoid accountability for COVID safety.
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May 9, 2021
Primed for Pain: Amazon’s Epidemic of Workplace Injuries
SOC’s first analysis of Amazon injury data found that in 2020, Amazon warehouse workers experienced a serious injury rate nearly twice the rate of non-Amazon warehouses. SOC also surveyed nearly 1,000 Amazon logistics workers in early 2021; more than 4 in 10 reported experiencing injuries at Amazon that caused them to miss work.
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May 21, 2020
Amazon Worker COVID-19 Survey Data Brief
In April & May 2020, the SOC (formerly Change to Win) conducted a survey of more than 4,000 Amazon and Whole Foods workers about their experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Many Amazon workers reported that they had not been trained about COVID-19 risks, felt pressure to go to work when they felt sick, and witnessed colleagues who were threatened or punished when speaking up for better safety conditions.
Non-SOC Reports
US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions | December 15, 2024
“Injury-Productivity Trade-off”: How Amazon’s Obsession with Speed Creates Uniquely Dangerous Warehouses
Over the course of eighteen months, the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), led by Senator Bernie Sanders, investigated Amazon’s workplace safety practices and concluded that Amazon manipulates its injury data to portray warehouses as safer than they actually are, imposes speed and productivity requirements on workers that cause injuries, and may under-report injuries to OSHA or other regulators, among other findings.
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University of Illinois Chicago, Center for Urban Economic Development | May 20, 2024
Handling Hardship: Data on Economic Insecurity Among Amazon Warehouse Workers
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago conducted a survey of Amazon warehouse workers that found an alarmingly large proportion experienced economic insecurity in the three months prior to the survey: over half (53%) of workers surveyed experienced one or more forms of food insecurity and one third (33%) have used one or more publicly-funded assistance programs.
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University of Illinois Chicago, Center for Urban Economic Development | October 25, 2023
Pain Points: Data on Work Intensity, Monitoring, and Health at Amazon Warehouses
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago conducted a survey of Amazon warehouse workers. The results indicate that 41% of workers surveyed report being injured on the job and more than two-in-three workers report having had to take unpaid time off due to pain or exhaustion from working in Amazon’s warehouses.
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Reveal | September 29, 2020
How Amazon Hid its Safety Crisis
Reveal analyzed internal safety reports and weekly injury numbers from Amazon's warehouses and concluded Amazon's warehouse workers bear the brutal cost of its mounting injury crisis, and that Amazon deliberately misrepresents its record on worker safety to hide its growing safety issues.
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Reveal | November 25, 2019
Behind the Smiles: Amazon’s Internal Injury Records Expose the True Toll of its Relentless Drive for Speed
Reveal reported that Amazon’s production pressure and surveillance technology pushes workers to dangerous limits that result in rate of serious injuries at Amazon’s fulfillment centers to be more than double the national average for the warehousing industry. Further, the report found that Amazon systematically covered up its high injury rates.
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The Morning Call | September 18, 2011
Inside Amazon’s Warehouse
Amazon workers reveal brutal heat, grueling production pressures, and job insecurity at a warehouse in Pennsylvania. During the summer at the warehouse, heat illness became so intense that Amazon had ambulances parked outside and an ER doctor said the warehouse was an unsafe environment.
Share your story
Do you currently work or have you worked at an Amazon facility? Have you experienced productivity rate pressure or other working conditions that threatened your health and safety? Have you suffered an injury on the job? You are not alone. Share your story with us today.
East African worker protest against Amazon © Fibonacci Blue (CC 2.0)