Trump taps Amazon exec who oversaw numerous safety violations to lead workplace safety agency

13 February

This week, President Donald Trump announced that he was nominating Amazon executive David Keeling to head the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). His record in overseeing workplace safety will likely be put under a microscope in his confirmation hearing.

The New Republic reported recently that Keeling — whose LinkedIn profile shows him holding top safety roles at both United Parcel Service (UPS) and Amazon since 2018 — has had numerous OSHA violations happen on his watch. NBC News reported in 2019 that OSHA cited UPS multiple times for needlessly exposing workers to "extreme heat" and doing nothing to mitigate heat-related risks.

Before finally agreeing to install air conditioning in their delivery trucks in 2024 as a result of negotiations with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, UPS had made drivers work in "excessive heat," according to NBC. In California alone, safety regulators in the Golden State fined UPS more than $140,000 for heat-related safety violations between 2015 and 2019.

During his time at Amazon, Keeling was in charge of safety when OSHA fined the company $145,000 over unsafe conditions at its warehouses and distribution centers. Amazon has also seen the injury rate at its warehouses climb since 2020.

In a 2023 report by the Strategic Organizing Center that examined 2022 OSHA data, injuries at Amazon facilities were found to be 70% higher than non-Amazon warehouses. And in 2021 — the year Keeling joined Amazon — the company accounted for roughly half of all workplace injuries in U.S. warehouses, according to CBS News.

That same year, a group of Amazon drivers sued their employer, alleging grueling working conditions that forced them to urinate in bottles and defecate in bags in order to meet "harsh work quotas." Plaintiffs also drew attention to Amazon's "elaborate tracking," which led to one female employee being disciplined by her supervisor for diverting from her delivery route to find a bathroom. The employee argued that she couldn't urinate in a bottle "because she has typical female anatomy."

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has not yet set an official date for Keeling's confirmation hearing. It's likely that every member of the committee's Democratic minority — led by ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) — will oppose him.

Click here to read the New Republic's article in full, and click here to read NBC's report.

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