MORE than 440 serious health and safety incidents at Amazon warehouses have been reported to the Health & Safety Executive since 2015-16, a GMB union investigation has revealed.

According to official workplace accident reports, workers have suffered fractures, head injuries, contusions, collisions with heavy equipment.

Investigation reports obtained by GMB reveal:

• A London forklift driver crashed into a column, almost causing a floor to collapse in a “lapse of concentration possibly due to long working hours”
• Dundee staff forced to work in freezing conditions
• A Leicestershire worker knocked down and wedged under a heavy goods vehicle
• Peterborough delivery drivers forced to wait for 8 to 10 hours in an unheated room which “needs to be rectified before Amazon is responsible for road accidents”
• Complaints Amazon and contractors create an environment of fear to speak out in matters that risk lives.

The responses received by GMB suggest that Amazon could face local authority enforcement action.

Central Bedfordshire Council refused to release copies of correspondence with Amazon on the grounds that “disclosing [this] information may prejudice an ongoing investigation and/or future enforcement action.”

The report is the latest bid by US and British labour movement campaigners to turn up the heat on Amazon.

In the United States left-wing Democrat Bernie Sanders has attacked Amazon’s poor pay practices, while GMB members in Britain are fighting to unionise the company’s warehouses.

GMB general secretary Tim Roache said: “No amount of spin can get around the fact that these official figures give a horrifying insight into their warehouses — no-one should go to work worried about being knocked unconscious or breaking bones.

“Amazon is treating workers like robots, not humans.

“Amazon won’t even let GMB through their gates, despite the fact we have hundreds of members working inside.

“We’d much prefer to be around the negotiating table. But failing that, we’ll continue campaign on every possible level to make sure Amazon workers are safe at work and treated with respect.”