Ambulances have been called to Amazon warehouses more than 1,400 times in the past five years, prompting fresh questions about safety at the US giant’s UK workplaces, The Guardian reported.
At Amazon’s centres in Dunfermline and Bristol, there were the most ambulance calls in the UK, listing 161 and 125 over the period respectively. One third of Scottish Ambulance Service calls at the former centre related to chest pain, with other calls recorded for seizures, strokes and breathing problems.
Amanda Gearing, GMB organiser, said the figures were shocking but not surprising and called on local authorities and the Health and Safety Executive to investigate the company’s working practices. She added:
Amazon workers are routinely pushed beyond the limits of human endurance. They’re forced to work to a hidden target that isn’t based on safe working but on a Hunger Games algorithm. (…) We know from our members in Amazon warehouses that first-aiders are actively discouraged from ringing ambulances – instead told to take taxis.
Since 2019, employees at Amazon Mansfield called for an ambulance 84 times. Over 70 per cent of these were for the most serious types of incidents – also like category 1 and 2, which may frequently deal with life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks or strokes.
Suicide attempts and other serious psychiatric incidents have occurred at various centres across the country. Bolton, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Rugeley, London and many others saw suicide attempts. In addition, incidents of pregnancy or miscarriage for female shift workers have also been in several locations, as well as traumatic injuries and suspected heart attacks. Others have suffered exposure to acids and dangerous gases, have received severe electric shocks, or have had significant parts of their body severely burned.
Some ambulance services did not record full data for a significant number of sites, meaning that the figures likely under-reported. Except, yet another case at a warehouse in Coventry, where Amazon workers and GMB union members narrowly lost a seminal ballot to recognise the union by 29 votes in July amid allegations of bullying by the logistics giant.
The Amazon spokesperson said that he strongly denies the accusations and allegations about the dangers of working for the company, saying that safety is always a priority for the company, and the company always calls an ambulance if someone needs emergency medical attention. In addition, the vast majority of ambulance calls are related to pre-existing medical conditions, not work-related incidents, according to a spokesperson.
We encourage everyone who wants to understand the truth to come and see for themselves by taking a tour of an Amazon fulfilment centre.
