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Dozens of Amazon workers in the UK have suffered serious injuries in recent years, including going blind or needing amputations, according to new data leading to new calls from the giant ecommerce to improve the treatment of vulnerable staff.

The $2.4tn Big Tech group and related entities reported 119 serious injuries due to work-related accidents to the country’s workplace health and safety regulator between 2019 and 2024, according to the response. in a UK Freedom of Information request submitted to the Financial Times.

Figures reveal that Amazon workers suffered 106 broken bones, lost consciousness eight times, had at least three fingers cut off and two eyes were blinded.

The roles of those injured include warehouse and sorting associates, delivery drivers, engineering apprentices and a safety co-ordinator.

The estimated average rate of non-fatal workplace injuries is 1,890 per 100,000 workers by 2023/24, according to the UK’s Health and Safety Executive.

However, the numbers obtained through Amazon’s freedom of information request only cover so-called “specified injuries,” which are limited to some serious cases rather than all non-fatal injuries.

Amazon said that using the figures provided by the HSE “to suggest that our workplace is dangerous is completely inaccurate – the truth is quite the opposite”. It added that the company in 2022 will have “50 percent fewer injuries than the rest of the transport and warehousing sector” when its injury rates are benchmarked against national data.

Founder Jeff Bezos promised in 2021 that the company “will be the best employer on earth and the safest place to work on earth”.

However, union leaders have repeatedly raised concerns about Amazon’s safety record. Stuart Richards, a senior organizer of the GMB, who earlier this year tried to force the group to recognize a union in the UK for the first timesaid the new injury data “revealed a serious catalog of issues”.

Richards added that “it’s time for Amazon bosses to take the health and safety of its workers seriously”.

Injury data released by a freedom of information request to the FT shows the rate of serious injuries across its network is at its lowest in six years while the number of its employees has doubled over the same period, Amazon said. .

However, the figures for 2024 do not include the entire year, such as the Christmas holiday period, which is one of the busiest trading periods.

“We are proud of our work environment, and we encourage everyone to tour one of our sites and see for themselves the safe, modern workplace we provide,” Amazon added.

Employers, and other people in charge of the workplace, are required to report so-called specific injuries caused by work-related accidents to the HSE. The work situations of those with reported injuries include employees, the self-employed and those employed by others.

Amazon also reported five diagnoses of occupational diseases during the same period, including tendonitis, dermatitis and an illness caused by occupational exposure to biological agents. But the Seattle-based company has not reported any deaths due to a work-related accident in the past six years in the UK, the HSE responded.

Martha Dark, co-executive director of Foxglove, a tech campaign group, said some workers across Amazon’s UK business were “deeply hurt”.

He added that “evidence from the US shows the speed of work that Amazon demands from its workers – especially in robotic warehouses – is a key driver of workplace injuries and forces workers to work faster than safe”.

Amazon says “robotics help reduce injuries,” as they reduce the need for employees to perform repetitive or laborious tasks, with the company allocating $750m for development on workplace safety this year. “Safety is a critical area where robotics makes a significant difference,” it added.

Richards from the GMB said he was also “concerned that official statistics only tell part of the story”, as the union had heard of instances where accidents and injuries were “not being dealt with properly” and workers “sent home in taxis rather than being sent to hospital in an ambulance”.

Amazon said in response: “Don’t be under any illusion, we always call an ambulance when colleagues need one in an emergency, whether it’s a work or non-work related incident. Yes, taxis are used to bring the staff home or to the hospital, but is that the right thing to do?

The HSE said in a statement that “the majority of work-related incidents in Amazon warehouses occur in fulfillment centres, which are regulated by local authorities” and that the regulator “will take action ” where violations of health and safety legislation are found in workplaces that. under its implementation.

Data visualization by Jana Tauschinski