Ambulances have been called to Amazon warehouses more than 1,400 times in the past five years, Observer can reveal. The figures, which were described as shocking by the GMB union, raise fresh questions about safety in the US giant’s British workplaces.
The Amazon centres in Dunfermline and Bristol had the highest number of ambulance call-outs in the UK, with 161 and 125 respectively in the period.
A third of calls from Scottish Ambulance Service to the Amazon site in Dunfermline were for chest pain, with calls also being for convulsions, strokes and respiratory problems.
Since 2019, ambulances have been called to Amazon Mansfield 84 times. More than 70% of these were for the most serious types of incidents, Category 1 and 2, which can often involve life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks or strokes.
Attempts at suicide or other serious psychiatric incidents have been recorded at Amazon centres in Bolton, Chesterfield, Mansfield, Rugeley, London and many others.
Incidents related to pregnancies or miscarriages for employees on duty were also reported on several sites, as were traumatic injuries and suspected heart attacks. Other incidents included workers being exposed to acids and dangerous gases, being severely electrocuted or suffering severe burns over a significant portion of their bodies.
The Observer gathered the information by submitting disclosure requests to 12 ambulance services. While the information covered more than 30 Amazon sites, ambulance services did not record complete data for a significant number of the sites in question, meaning the figures are likely an underestimate.
That included a warehouse in Coventry, where Amazon workers and members of the GMB union narrowly lost a key vote on union recognition by 29 votes in July amid allegations of intimidation by the logistics giant.
Amanda Gearing, a GMB organiser involved in the effort, 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. “Amazon workers are routinely pushed beyond the limits of human endurance,” she said. “They are forced to work towards a hidden goal that is not based on working safely, but on a Hunger Games algorithm.”
“Even these disturbingly high numbers can obscure just how common injuries and illnesses are at Amazon. We know from our members in Amazon warehouses that first responders are actively discouraged from calling ambulances — instead, they’re told to take taxis,” she said.
The number of incidents recorded at Amazon’s distribution centers and warehouses appears to be higher than the reported numbers for large fast fashion warehouses.
In a Vice investigation Before the pandemic, warehouses including Boohoo, Missguided and Pretty Little Thing, described by union officials as “Victorian”, recorded 10 ambulance dispatches or fewer per year.
In 2018, a freedom of information request from the GMB union revealed that a Tesco warehouse in Rugeley, near Birmingham, recorded just eight ambulance callouts in three years, compared with 115 recorded at a nearby Amazon site. Both warehouses employed large numbers of workers at the time: 1,300 at Tesco’s site and around 1,800 at Amazon’s.
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“We are seeing once again how dangerous it is to work at Amazon,” said Martha Dark, executive director of Foxglove, a nonprofit that supports Amazon workers. “To see so many workers being taken away in ambulances simply for doing their jobs is unacceptable and highlights Amazon’s disregard for health and safety.”
An Amazon spokesperson said it “strongly denies the suggestion that it is ‘dangerous’ to work for Amazon. Safety is always the absolute priority”. They also denied GMB’s claim that ambulances were sometimes not called: “As a responsible employer, we will always call an ambulance if someone requires urgent medical attention.”
The spokesman said the figures were misleading, citing Amazon’s huge workforce and the fact that the company, according to self-reported data, records an average of 50% fewer injuries to the HSE than other transport and warehousing companies.
They added that the “vast majority” of ambulance calls were for “pre-existing conditions, not work-related incidents” and that Amazon “will always call an ambulance if someone requires medical attention”.
“We encourage anyone who wants to know the truth to take a tour of an Amazon fulfillment center for themselves,” the researchers said.