Amazon reports that the company’s recordable incident rate (RIR), which reflects work-related injuries requiring more than basic first-aid treatment, has improved by 30% since 2019 and by 8% year over year (YoY). Amazon has released the data as part of its pledge to be more transparent with its operations.
According to an article posted on the company’s news page, Amazon also reports that its lost time incident rate (LTIR), representing serious injuries that require workers to miss time at work, has improved by 60% over the past four years and 16% YoY.
The article states that Amazon currently employs 1.1 million workers spanning six continents. One of the company’s goals is to become one of the safest workplaces within the industries in which it operates. Toward that end, Amazon employs more than 9,000 professionals dedicated to safety.
As a participant in the general warehousing and storage industry, Amazon’s RIR improved by 24% within four years. In 2023, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rate was 6.5, better than the average of 6.8 for employers with more than 1,000 employees. In the same industry, Amazon’s LTIR improved by 77% over the past four years. In 2023, its rate was 1.1, while the most recent BLS average is 2.6 for employers of that size.
In the courier and express delivery services industry, Amazon’s RIR improved by 41% over the past four years. Its 2023 rate was 6.3, while the BLS average is 11.5 for employers of that size. The company’s LTIR improved by 66% over the past four years, with a rate of 2.4, better than the BLS average of 4.7.
"As we’ve said in past years, we don’t aspire to be around the average—we want to be the best in the industries in which we operate," Amazon said in the article. "We know that every incident number represents a person, which is why one incident is one too many. In 2024 alone, we’ve allocated over $750 million to invest in technologies, resources, training, and programs to further our safety efforts."