Ambulances called out to Amazon staff 600 times

AMBULANCES have been called to Amazon’s UK warehouses more than 600 times in the past three years amid concerns over dangerous working practices.

There were 115 call-outs alone to Amazon’s site in Rugeley, Staffordshire, including three relating to pregnancy or maternity problems and three for major trauma, a freedom of information request to ambulance services by the GMB union revealed.

At least 1,800 people work year round at the warehouse. In comparison, there were just eight calls over the same period to a nearby Tesco warehouse where about 1,300 people work, according to another FOI request by the union.

Amazon says it has a good safety record but workers have complained that constant pressure to hit performance targets makes it difficult for them to take time out to visit the toilet or get a drink while working at one of its 14 warehouses.

A GMB survey found 87 per cent of Amazon workers – many of whom are asked to wear electronic monitoring equipment – also suffer constant or occasional pain during shifts. Mick Rix, a GMB officer, said the union had also been told of a woman who suffered a miscarriage while working, which she believed was partly as a result of continuous pressure to hit targets.

‘Companies like Amazon should be treating staff with respect, not treating them like robots,’ Mr Rix said. ‘none of these things happen in a safe, happy working environments.’

Amazon said it was ‘simply not correct’ to suggest it had unsafe working conditions. ‘Requests for ambulance services at our fulfilment centres are predominantly associated with personal health events and are not work related,’ it said.

‘nevertheless, ambulance visits at our centres last year was 0.00001 per worked hour, which is dramatically low. We don’t recognise these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.’