An Amazon worker died at a New Jersey warehouse during the Prime Day rush last week, according to the Department of Labor.
The unnamed male worker’s death occurred at Amazon’s EWR9 facility in Carteret, New Jersey, during Amazon’s Prime Day sale, which is traditionally one of the online retailer’s busiest weeks of the year.
Labor Department spokesperson Leni Forston told The Post that the agency’s worker safety division, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, is “aware of this tragic incident” and is “currently investigating.”
The agency has six months to conduct an inspection and release its findings, Forston said. The agency did not provide any additional details on how the worker died.
“We’re deeply saddened by the passing of one of our colleagues and offer condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time,” Amazon spokesperson Sam Stephenson said. “We’ve contacted his family to offer support and will provide counseling resources to employees needing additional care.”
Amazon critics, including the organizers who unionized the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island this April, say the company’s emphasis on speed puts workers at unnecessary risk.
In 2021, about half of all warehouse worker injuries occurred at Amazon facilities — even though the e-commerce giant only accounts for one-third of all warehouse jobs in the US, according to a labor union report based on OSHA data.
Injury rates at Amazon facilities spiked 20% between 2020 and 2021, according to the report, despite a pledge from Jeff Bezos to address the issue.
Amazon blamed the increase in injuries on a wave of new hires and said that its injury rate had fallen 13% between 2019 and 2021.
[Written in collaboration with other media outlets with information from the following sources]
