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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →A July 2024 interim report from Senate HELP Committee majority staff said Amazon’s internal data showed sharply higher warehouse injury rates during Prime Day 2019 and argued that peak-period work demands contributed. The figures are historical, not a measure of current injury rates, and Amazon disputes the report’s interpretation.
What the Senate HELP report said
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) majority staff released Peak Seasons, Peak Injuries: Amazon Warehouses Are Especially Dangerous During Prime Day and the Holiday Season—and the Company Knows It on July 15, 2024, under Chair Bernie Sanders. It was an interim staff report—not a final Senate finding or an adjudicated conclusion. Read the interim report; see the committee’s release.
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The report stated: “But Prime Day is also a major cause of injuries for the warehouse workers who make it possible.” That is the staff report’s conclusion. The data it highlighted were for Prime Day 2019, not the 2024 event or a later Prime Day.
What the injury figures measure
The report presented two different Prime Day 2019 figures. They should not be treated as interchangeable rates:
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| Measure | Prime Day 2019 figure | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Recordable injuries | Over 10 per 100 workers | The report described these as injuries Amazon must disclose to OSHA. Staff said the rate was more than double the 2019 warehousing-and-storage industry average of 4.8 nonfatal injury cases per 100 workers, a Bureau of Labor Statistics figure published in 2020. |
| Total internally logged injuries | Just under 45 per 100 workers | A broader measure that included injuries Amazon logged internally beyond the OSHA-recordable category. Amazon disputes the report’s characterization of this measure, arguing that it includes minor first-aid cases. |
These historical figures were presented by Senate HELP majority staff in 2024 using Amazon internal data. They do not establish injury rates for every facility, nor do they show what rates were during later Prime Day events. The distinction between recordable and total internal injuries matters: a broader internal count is not an OSHA-recordable rate.
Why staff linked risk to peak-period work
The report argued that Prime Day order surges coincided with faster and longer work, mandatory extra time, and instances in which safety procedures were allegedly bypassed. Committee staff said they heard from hundreds of current and former employees and interviewed more than 100. Those accounts are evidence of what staff reported hearing; they are not a representative survey or, by themselves, proof that peak workload caused a particular injury.
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The committee also cited $12.7 billion in sales for 375 million products over two days in 2023. That figure gives a sense of the event’s scale, but sales volume alone does not establish an injury cause.
Amazon’s response and the disputed interpretation
Amazon said the report relied on outdated data and unverified anecdotes. In its July 15, 2024 response, the company said its U.S. recordable incident rate fell 28% and its lost-time incident rate fell 75% from 2019 to 2023. Those are company-reported, company-wide trends; they are not a direct remeasurement of the Prime Day 2019 rates or a like-for-like comparison with the committee’s event-specific figures. Read Amazon’s response to the interim report.
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Amazon also said the report misrepresented its safety record and seasonal practices. It stated: “Our employees’ safety is and always will be our top priority—it comes before everything else we do.” That is the company’s position, not an independently measured conclusion.
What the OSHA recordkeeping dispute adds
The interim report said OSHA had cited Amazon for injury-recordkeeping failures at at least 20 facilities since 2019. Amazon characterized the identified issues as minor, one-off clerical errors and said they were not intentional, willful, or systemic. The interim report does not resolve that disagreement.
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In a December 2024 response to the committee’s final report, Amazon repeated the 28% and 75% declines in its company-wide rates and disputed committee interpretations of Project Soteria and the relationship between injury rates and productivity. That later response adds context to the continuing dispute, but it is not a direct rebuttal of every Prime Day 2019 figure in the interim report. Read Amazon’s response to the final HELP report.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What readers can conclude
The report raises a specific historical concern: committee staff said Amazon’s internal data showed elevated injuries around Prime Day 2019 and argued that peak-period work practices contributed. Amazon disputes the staff’s interpretation and points to company-reported safety improvements through 2023. Because the figures cover different periods and scopes, neither the report’s 2019 event figures nor Amazon’s later company-wide trend should be presented as a current Prime Day injury rate.
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