US senators ask Amazon to improve safety practices

San Francisco, Feb 11 (IANS) In a new letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, 15 US senators have called upon the online retail giant to improve safety practices and treatment of its workers.

“Any practice that puts profits before worker safety is unacceptable,” read the letter signed by Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, and Cory Booker, among others.

The letter requests a written response, including what action the company will take, by February 21, The Verge reported on Monday.

The letter mentioned that recent analysis of Amazon’s own internal injury records by The Atlantic, Reveal from the Centre for Investigative Reporting and by a coalition of workers advocate organisations found disturbing injury rates at the Amazon warehouse.

“Recent investigations into Amazon’s safety records found that the injury rate of workers at Amazon facilities is much higher than the injury rate for private sector employees in the U.S. – and even for the warehouse industry generally,” reads the letter.

“Amazon’s dismal safety record indicates a greater concern for profits than for your own workers’ safety and health,” the letter said.

An Amazon spokesperson, in a statement to The Verge, said that “nothing is more important” to the company than the safety of its employees.