The explosion of online shopping has led to a surge in the workforce supporting warehouses and delivery services. While convenient for customers, the rapid pace of e-commerce has exposed these workers to dangerous conditions and a rising number of serious injuries. According to findings, warehouse and package delivery workers had the highest estimated rate of serious injury among private sector industries in 2022.
On average, almost four in 100 full-time workers experienced serious injuries. Serious injury rates for these workers are worsening. From 2018 to 2022, serious injury rates for warehouse workers increased by 20%, while the rate for last-mile delivery rose by 23%.
Three categories of injuries accounted for about 85% of serious injuries among warehouse workers and 91% among last-mile delivery workers: overexertion, contact with objects and equipment, and falls, slips, and trips. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has ramped up efforts to address hazards in warehouses and among last-mile delivery workers. Between 2018 and 2023, OSHA cited these employers for more than 2,500 workplace violations.
However, challenges remain. OSHA staff have difficulty identifying and addressing ergonomic hazards, the most common cause of injuries. The staff cited a lack of training and unclear guidance as primary issues.
Improved training and guidance for OSHA staff is crucial, especially because new technologies aimed at boosting productivity may increase ergonomic risks. Without these improvements, OSHA inspectors may struggle to mitigate the most harmful hazards. A new report includes recommendations to strengthen OSHA’s efforts in these areas.
Rising injuries in e-commerce workforce
The report highlights that, in 2022, the transportation and warehousing industry had the highest serious injury and illness rate among the 19 sectors analyzed. The GAO notes that OSHA currently lacks a standard on ergonomics.
OSHA uses the General Duty Clause when issuing citations, which necessitates a higher burden of proof. According to the report, OSHA staffers described several challenges compliance officers face when trying to identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards, including difficulty determining if ergonomic hazards caused injuries, little training on ergonomic hazards, and unclear ergonomic guidance. The GAO report makes five recommendations to OSHA, including ensuring compliance officers can easily obtain data on when MSDs occurred, increasing training for identifying and assessing ergonomic hazards, and evaluating the National Emphasis Program to determine if it helps inspectors identify, assess, and address ergonomic hazards.
Although OSHA agreed with some of the recommendations, Deputy Assistant Secretary James Frederick notes in a response to the report that for the first recommendation, the agency would need to change its recordkeeping regulations through notice-and-comment procedures. The growing speed at which we receive our online orders may come at a serious cost to workers’ bodies. The authors defined a “serious injury” as one that resulted in time away from work or modified job duties.
The biggest hazards these workers faced were musculoskeletal injuries and strains from overexertion and repetitive motions. The GAO also said that employers’ real-time monitoring of workers’ productivity rates in warehouses and delivery vans might be a contributing factor. “Employers’ use of technology that increases productivity may harm workers through encouraging worker overexertion and unsafe movements,” the report states.
The report did not name particular employers, but its release coincided with Amazon Prime Day. Representative Bobby Scott highlighted that the findings show the workers “who keep the American economy moving” are getting hurt far too often. The GAO surveyed workers as part of its investigation and found many did not report their injuries to employers, believing either that the injuries were not serious enough, that their employers would not address them, or fearing retaliation.
While the report acknowledged that new technologies could help prevent injuries, the surveys found many workers believe such advancements are changing their jobs for the worse. Overwhelming majorities of both warehouse workers and delivery drivers said their employers’ monitoring technologies are making it harder for them to work safely.
