Online retail giant Amazon exposed employees at one of its Colorado Springs package delivery facilities to unsafe conditions that put them “at risk for lower back injuries” and should be fined $15,625 as a result, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration said this week.

Amazon disputed the allegation and said employee safety is paramount.

It’s the third time this year OSHA has taken such action against Amazon, the agency said. On Jan. 18 and Feb. 1, OSHA said it cited Amazon and issued hazard alert letters for similar violations at the retailer’s warehouse in Aurora, outside of Denver, along with facilities in Deltona, Fla., Waukegan, Ill., Nampa, Idaho, and New Windsor and Castleton, N.Y.

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In a Feb. 15 citation and notification of penalty, OSHA said the proposed fine for Amazon in Colorado Springs stems from conditions at the retailer’s delivery station at 4303 Grinnell Blvd. near the city’s airport on the southeast side.

The delivery station is one of a trio of facilities built by Amazon in recent years at the airport’s Peak Innovation Business Park as the retailer expanded in Colorado Springs to serve the Pikes Peak region and southern Colorado.

The 66,780-square-foot delivery station is sandwiched between Amazon’s massive, nearly 3.5 million-square-foot fulfillment/distribution center and the retailer’s 278,331-square-foot sorting center, El Paso County land records show.

The delivery station processes 5,000 to 10,000 packages per hour and receives about 50,000 packages per day, according to an OSHA news release.

On Aug. 16, 2022, the agency said, it inspected the delivery station in response “to an employee complaint of musculoskeletal disorders related to the site’s processing speed and blocked fire exits.”

OSHA found that employees “were exposed to ergonomic hazards which were causing or likely to cause MSDs (musculoskeletal disorders),” according to the agency’s citation and notification of penalty.

“During the Induct Feeder/Induct Belt Loader process path, employees were required to reach, twist, and bend while repeatedly lifting packages from the bottom and the top of go-carts or Gaylords to the Induct belts at a high frequency, placing them at risk for lower back injuries,” OSHA said.

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OSHA’s proposed $15,625 penalty is an amount set by federal statute, the agency said. Amazon has 15 days to decide whether to contest the penalty.

“We continue to find that Amazon’s work processes are designed for speed, not safety, and that these processes cause serious injuries to workers,” Doug Parker, OSHA’s assistant secretary, said in a news release. “Amazon needs to focus more of its passion for innovation and performance on eliminating the hazards that injure workers.”

In response, Amazon said it takes the safety and health of its employees “very seriously,” according to spokeswoman Maureen Lynch Vogel in an email to The Gazette.

“We don’t believe the government’s allegations reflect the reality of safety at our sites,” her email said. “We’ve cooperated with OSHA and demonstrated how we work to mitigate risks and keep our people safe, and our publicly available data shows we reduced injury rates in the U.S. nearly 15% between 2019 and 2021. There will always be more to do, and we’ll continue working to get better every day.”

The email said Amazon intends to challenge the penalty.

OSHA’s citation and notification of penalty outlined a series of “engineering, administrative and work practice controls” at Amazon’s delivery station that would “materially reduce the hazard of this workplace.” They included:

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? Use a machine that dumps whole cart contents onto the conveyor belt to reduce reaching and torso bending and frequency of lifting.

? Use carts with height adjustable platforms to reduce reach distance and torso bending.

? Use pallet lifts that rotate to reduce torso bending and reaching distances. Consider pallet lifts that tilt when using Gaylords to reduce bending and reaching distances.

? Reduce the employees’ time on task via administrative methods such as job rotation during the shift or increased breaks.

At the same time, OSHA presented several “abatement methods” that it also said would eliminate or reduce hazards. Among them:

? Perform a worksite analysis to evaluate existing manual lifting and pulling hazards in the workplace and develop an effective ergonomics program.

? Implement engineering controls that are designed by a qualified certified professional ergonomist or other qualified professional. Such controls may include workstation redesign, tool and handle redesign, and use of mechanical lifting aids. The goal should be to make the job fit the person.

? Implement administrative controls that reduce the duration, frequency, and severity of exposure to ergonomic risk factors. These controls may include job rotation, reduction of repetitions, multiple person lifts, and equipment maintenance.

? Implement work practice controls including work techniques, new employee conditioning, and reduction of weight lifted.