Safety Knights

As you probably know Amazon's H&S record is not the best. I have some warehouse experience and it can be tough business to keep people safe, especially one that promotes being high-paced, productive, and profitable! Currently, Amazon has a lot of negative publicity on their safety record. All you need to do is Google them. Look at the OSHA Enforcement Page:

https://www.osha.gov/ords/imis/establishment.search?p_logger=1&establishment=Amazon&State=all&officetype=all&Office=all&sitezip=&p_case=all&p_violations_exist=all&startmonth=05&startday=08&startyear=2014&endmonth=05&endday=07&endyear=2024

Note most of the OSHA visits are "Complaints". This is not an indication of "happy" employees. Amazon is fighting several unionization efforts at many of their locations, again a sign of how the employees feel about them!

I just read Amazon's most recent TIR rate is 6.8. The national average hovers around 3 for many years. In the most current BLS table 1 the warehouse's average is just slightly lower at about 5.7 by NACIS.

What I found telling for me was I recently was listening to a podcast and Amazon was making a big deal of a huge Safety Effort. I thought they would be talking about something outstanding! Maybe pronounce that they were going after "Zero-Injuries Philosophy!" Making Safety an internal value not just a goal! Then Amazon said they had made a GOAL of reducing injuries by 25%. That is like bragging you are going to make a poor safety record average at best! That speaks volumes to me! Just as an outsider, I do not think Amazon is really committed to making safety an internal value, it is merely just another goal.

Now if you are up to challenges go for it! Maybe you will be the one to make real change! So I do not want to deflate your balloon! But know Amazon is one of the largest companies in the world and growing every day. If you are going to make real change you will have to fight through all that! Let us know what you decide.

Which Amazon division are you considering? They have Amazon logistics (deals with their delivery vehicles), Amazon air, their warehouses, retail, etc. - all which are ran by different parts of Amazon and operate a little bit different.

Their roles within Amazon are also very different than most industries. For example, they'll have someone who is in charge of all of the written programs, they'll have someone in charge of contractors, someone in charge of people on the floor in the warehouse, someone response for fleet safety, so on and so forth. Their heirarchy is a lot different than your average company.

At the end of the day, my main question for you is, why are you specifically wanting to have direct reports? Or are you saying you just want to switch employers for a change of scenery?

I have some really close friends who work at Amazon in corporate-level EHS positions (some that I talk to every day), so I'm pretty familiar with their operations (plus, they tried to get me to work for them several years back, but I turned it down to start up Arrow Safety, haha).

Also be aware that Amazon’s working environment in their distribution centers can be described as “intense.” An acquaintance of mine is pretty high up in Amazons HSE department. They had an opening near me for a similar role and I can’t say he encouraged me to join it. I did not jump. Assuming you are on LinkedIn, I recommend searching for people that have worked in the HSE department at the specific facility if possible. You’ll get a good idea of the turnover there to see if it’s just a meat grinder or people stay. All that being said, if you don’t see growth opportunity in your current company, this might be a good move to give you a step up in a few years with the people manager experience.

There is plenty you can do in safety to take a next step without having direct reports. I just urge careful meditation and thought (even prayer if that's something you do) on this subject. Not everyone is meant to manage. And, that's ok. It doesn't make you less of a safety professional if you do not want to. If you do manage direct reports it doesn't make you better than someone who does not. A lot of people do it, very few are good at it. It's emotionally taxing to lead others. You may take a great job, but inherent no team, have to build a team, fire people from the team and if there's no one to do the work...it's all you. Some people thrive on these challenges, others do not. I am at a crossroads in my career so this is why I posted. I made safety director earlier than most in my age group. I've always wanted to mentor. I've learned so much from people better than me. I've had a taste of it in my current position as my company grows. It has made me hesitate. I have a good job. I am well paid, good PTO, my mentality fits the corporate mold in the c-suite, I travel less than I ever have, I can come and go as I please provided my work is done. I am meditating on whether or not I want to manage direct reports or just crush it solo where I am and live my life. Good safety people are hard to find, more often the team that is built is just built to get by. I watched by father run a department of dozens of guys in construction for 20 years. I could relatively easily get another job with direct reports...most of us can. Safety.. it is easy to jump ship, but not always wise. I won't disparage others, I hope, but I would pass on amazon. If they do safety like they treat their customers and employees I would be very cautious. Heads of EHS at major corporations like to talk a good talk... while their offices and stock options are next (and similar to) their c-suite counterparts.

No. From what I see the EHS Managers, Safety Specialists are regularly being replaced. They are leaving for a reason. If you enjoy the data over hands on then this may be a good fit. Otherwise this is data chasing, presentations, less interactions with the floor.