The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S. Department of Labor named five companies for serious workplace violations, following the investigation conducted in response to the death of temporary warehouse worker Ronald Smith on Dec. 4, 2013.
Smith sustained injuries when he was caught and crushed in between the warehouse’s conveyor system as he was in the midst of sorting operations at the Amazon fulfillment center in Avenel, New Jersey.
According to OSHA, serious violation happens “when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.”
OSHA cited four temporary staffing agencies and the contractor of the facility as those involved in said serious violations, of which Amazon wasn’t included.
The temporary staffing agencies were Abacus — The Corporate Services Co., Baltimore that employed the victim; Corporate Resource Services Inc., engaged in business as Diamond Staffing Services, in New York; Remedy Intelligent Staffing Inc., also in business as a Selective Staffing division, in Santa Barbara, California; and Ohio-based Staffmark. Each one of them was cited for failing to perform the required hazard assessment of said facility to warrant that no hazard is present before it assigned employees in the site.
"Temporary staffing agencies and host employers are jointly responsible for the safety and health of temporary employees. These employers must assess the work site to ensure that workers are adequately protected from potential hazards," Patricia Jones, OSHA director at the Avenel Area Office says in a statement. "It is essential that employers protect all workers from job hazards — both temporary and permanent workers."
Meanwhile, Amazon contracted Genco, a Pittsburgh-based third-party logistics provider, to direct temporary workers from the four staffing agencies that were involved in the warehouse’s sorting operations, which is the reason why Amazon wasn't held accountable in the incident. Said temporary staffs were tasked in monitoring the sorting machine and conveyors to guarantee that packages were properly positioned as they travel over the sorting belts and conveyor.
OSHA cited also the same serious violation for Genco, which is the lack of certification that the facility was assessed for any possible hazard prior to assigning workers there.
The involved agencies and contract were each fined with $6,000 as recommended by OSHA. They were also given 15 business days from the time they receive the citations and fines to obey, request for an informal meeting with area director of OSHA or dispute the penalties and citations before the independent commission of Occupational Safety and Health Review.
OSHA rolled out an initiative that aims to enhance temporary workers’ health and workplace safety in April 2003. In 2012 alone, initial data of the Bureau of Labor Statistics illustrate that lethal work injuries concerning contract worker fatalities, counting those temporary help service employees, accounted for 16 percent or 708 of the total number of 4,383 deadly work injuries. The bureau’s data came from the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries.
OSHA is also conducting an investigation of a separate accident at the Amazon fulfillment Center in Carlisle, Pa. on June 1, 2014 wherein Jody Rhoads, 52, died after the machinery she operated at the time banged into shelving, pinning her. An Amazon spokeswoman says the company is actively cooperating with the government agency to look further into the case.
