Scott Dresser, Vice President of Amazon Robotics, stated that the e-commerce giant is investing $550 million into safety initiatives, including new robotics technologies, which has resulted in a declining injury rate for their workers. Dresser made the statement in a blog post for About Amazon.

"This year alone, we are investing more than $550 million into safety-related projects and initiatives, and we have more than 8,000 safety and health professionals whose sole responsibility is to protect our people and partners," said Dresser. "As a result, injury rates across our network have declined. We are helping to build on that progress by continuously collaborating with our safety and operations team."

According to About Amazon, the company invested $1 billion in safety programs from 2019 to 2022 and is planning to invest another $750 million in 2024.

Amazon facilities have more than 750,000 robots working alongside employees, according to Dresser. "Robotics technology working alongside people alleviates our employees’ physical workload, like reducing their walking distances or their repetitive bending and twisting to pick up packages," said Dresser. Robert Morua, an Amazon employee who works in Texas, said the robots relieve the load of "repetitive tasks."

Dresser explained that Amazon operations employees use artificial intelligence (AI), computer vision, and machine learning at workstations to simplify tasks and increase safety. To reduce repetitive motion injuries, new AI models plan and distribute inventory which shifts tasks to the employee’s "power zone" (between mid-thigh and mid-chest), reducing the need to reach or bend down. The Sequoia robotics solution uses "ergonomic" workstations that support these efforts by delivering containers to employees in their power zone.

According to Amazon Safety, Amazon's global recordable incident rate (RIR) has improved 30% over the past four years and 8% since 2022, including work-related injuries that required more than basic first-aid treatment. "Company data shows recordable incident rates and lost-time incident rates were lower at Amazon Robotics sites than non-robotics sites," said Dresser.