OSHA investigating deaths of three Amazon workers at N.J. warehouses

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating the deaths of three workers at Amazon warehouses in New Jersey in the past month.

The first worker’s death coincided with the retailer’s Prime Day sales event. On July 13 around 8 a.m, emergency services responded to a call from a warehouse in Carteret, New Jersey. The worker died on his way to the hospital.

On July 24, a worker was injured in an incident at a warehouse in Robbinsville Township, and died on July 27.  

In a statement to the Associated Press, Robbinsville Police Chief Michael Polaski said officers responded to a call from the warehouse. A worker, conscious when police arrived, had fallen from a three-foot ladder and hit his head.

The most recent fatality happened on Aug. 4 at Amazon’s warehouse in Monroe Township.

A U.S. Labor Department official confirmed all three deaths and the OSHA investigations to USA Today.

Amazon is conducting its own investigation, while also cooperating with OSHA.

Rep. Donald Norcross, New Jersey Democrat, has called for OSHA to perform a full investigation of Amazon’s workplace practices.

“People should feel confident that when they go to work they’ll be safe and come home the way they went in. Amazon is failing to fulfill that basic promise,” Mr. Norcross said in a statement after the death in Carteret.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has said it is looking into possible workplace violations at Amazon.