Striving to become ‘Earth’s Safest Place to Work,’ in 2021, Amazon pumped $300 million into safety projects. Intending to cut annual recordable incidents rates– or work-related injuries that result in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transferring of job in half, the giant corporation says in a press release that the new safety programs “will help prevent injuries, provide wellness services, and offer quality healthcare for employees while at work and at home.” Dubbing it WorkingWell, the new overarching safety effort consists of a comprehensive program that provides employees with physical and mental activities, wellness exercises, and healthier food options at work and home.
Coming out of a record-breaking year, accruing an annual revenue of $386 billion, Amazon shelled out $300 million for safety projects in 2021. In Amazon’s press release, it said that WorkingWell incorporates “scientifically proven health and safety education and exercises,” such as health and safety huddles where groups of employees learn in collaboration about rotating topics that range from gripping and handling machinery to health and wellness. Wellness Zones “provide employees with voluntary stretching and muscle recovery via easily accessible, dedicated spaces within Amazon’s operations buildings”. AmaZen brings employees into interactive kiosks that are dotted throughout Amazon’s factories to guide them through meditation and mindfulness practices. Keeping the press release aside, these tiny rooms or “individual interactive kiosks,” look too small to provide any actual relief. In fact, the company faced quite a backlash over their release, with Amazon actually deleting a video of Amazen they initially shared on Twitter.
EatWell positions employees to develop healthier eating habits by “increasing the availability of healthier [food] options.” Another safety effort, Amazon’s Neighborhood Health Center, manifests as a partnership with Crossover Health, providing employees with access to comprehensive primary care services that “focus on acute, chronic, and preventive primary healthcare needs.” Employees situated behind workstations will also be notified of hourly computer prompts that guide them through “scientifically proven physical and mental activities to help recharge and re-energize.” In 2019, Amazon fulfillment centers reported 14,000 severe injuries, which increased by 33% since 2016. By integrating WorkingWell into their factories and safety measures, Amazon announces a goal of cutting that number in half by 2025.
Designer: Amazon
AmaZen and EatWell provide Amazon employees with opportunities to meditate and develop healthier eating habits at work.
Group huddles allow Amazon employees to collaborate and learn about health and wellness as well as the proper handling of onsite machinery.
The hourly computer prompts remind Amazon employees to move around to “recharge and re-energize.”
