Politics & Government

3 NJ Amazon Workers Died In A Month, Prompting Investigations: Feds

A worker at Amazon's Cartaret facility died last month during the company's busiest sales week of the year. 2 more in NJ died since.

Three employees have died at Amazon warehouses in New Jersey in the past month, prompting a federal investigation, according to federal officials.
Three employees have died at Amazon warehouses in New Jersey in the past month, prompting a federal investigation, according to federal officials. (Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

NEW JERSEY — The death of an Amazon warehouse employee last month in New Jersey prompted calls for an investigation. Federal labor officials are looking not only into the circumstances of the worker's death but the deaths of two employees at the company's New Jersey facilities that occurred since, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Emergency services responded to a 911 call July 13 at Amazon's fulfillment center in Cartaret. Officials took him to the hospital, but the employee did not survive. The incident occurred during the Prime Day rush — typically Amazon's busiest sales week. Read more: NJ Amazon Worker Dies In Fulfillment Center On Prime Day: Reports

Federal officials are now investigating two more fatal incidents involving Amazon facilities in the state: a July 24 incident at the Robbinsville facility resulted in a worker's death three days later, and another employee died Thursday at the Monroe delivery station.

Find out what's happening in Across New Jerseywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has up to six months after each alleged violation's occurrence to complete investigations. Further details on each incident weren't available.

"As is standard protocol, we are conducting an internal investigation and are cooperating with OSHA, who is also conducting their own independent review," an Amazon spokesperson told New Jersey Herald.

Find out what's happening in Across New Jerseywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

In a farewell letter to shareholders last year, outgoing CEO Jeff Bezos claimed Amazon would become "Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work." But Amazon facilities have been far from the safest places to work.

Amazon reported to federal regulators that 6.6 of 100 employees sustained recordable injuries in 2020, totaling 27,697 workplace injuries. The rate increased in 2021 to 7.9 injuries per 100 workers, totaling 38,334 incidents overall, according to research on Amazon injury rates Rutgers University's School of Management and LAbor Relations, along with think tank New Jersey Police Perspective.

All other warehouse employees sustained four injuries per 100 workers last year, making Amazon workers nearly twice as likely to get injured on the job than others in the warehouse and storage industries.

New Jersey has 53 Amazon facilities, according to the research. With a statewide estimate of 36,231 employees, 1,605 of them suffered injuries last year. The figure includes 1,386 injuries that forced employees to miss work or get placed on restricted duty while recovering, leading to 14,383 days of lost time and 47,741 days of light or restricted duty, the report states.

Amazon is New Jersey's second-largest employer.

"People should feel confident that when they go to work they’ll be safe and come home the way they went in," Rep. Donald Norcross (NJ-1) said after the Cartaret employee's death. " ... I renew my call for OSHA to investigate Amazon fully. Lives depend on it."


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