Amazon's response sort of touches on this, saying they've pushed for recording every incident, big or small. 3-4 could be from underreporting or from better working conditions (or both).
https://www.osha.gov/report.html
Amazon's PR people are pretending the high numbers are because they are reporting papercuts, but papercuts would be rejected for the government stats. This is "severe injury or death" reporting only.
"According to the report, workers whose injuries were logged by Amazon were each forced to miss an average of 64.04 days of employment."
Does that sound like papercuts? An average of three months off work, if they even return?
This is wrong. It's from an analysis of Amazon's own incident logs that OSHA requires companies to keep (OSHA form 300A[1].) The government doesn't "reject" incidents from these logs. Additionally, a recordable injury is any of the following[2]
- Any work-related fatality.
- Any work-related injury or illness that results in loss of consciousness, days away from work, restricted work, or transfer to another job.
- Any work-related injury or illness requiring medical treatment beyond first aid.
- Any work-related diagnosed case of cancer, chronic irreversible diseases, fractured or cracked bones or teeth, and punctured eardrums.
- There are also special recording criteria for work-related cases involving: needlesticks and sharps injuries; medical removal; hearing loss; and tuberculosis.
[1] https://www.osha.gov/recordkeeping/new-osha300form1-1-04-For...