Fury at number of 999 calls to fashion giants 'satanic' warehouses
Fashion distribution warehouses are being run like “dark satanic mills” where sick staff are regularly carted off in ambulances, figures show.
Some 40 ambulances rushed to a JD Sports site in Rochdale last year while 45 were dispatched to the Asos unit, Barnsley, almost one a week. Over the past three years the figures were 117 and 148 respectively.
Labour MP Frank Field, who has demanded a new employment rights Bill, said the figures gave a glimpse into the “appalling conditions to which the soft human underbelly of Britain’s labour market is exposed.
“This sort of thing should have been left behind in the Victorian era.”
GMB regional boss Neil Derrick said Asos “are making millions while workers are literally being taken away in ambulances. Their desperate drive for profit has created a damaging, anxiety-ridden workplace.”
The statistics do not shed light on why ambulances were called, but there have been reports of timed toilet breaks, invasive security checks and exhausting targets. Workers have reportedly fallen asleep on their feet doing compulsory overtime.
The Freedom of Information request data, also revealed 40 ambulances were called to Tesco in Milton Keynes, Didcot and Reading last year. Twenty-one were called to Amazon in Warrington and six to the giant’s site in Doncaster. Shop Direct had 12 call-outs, while there were nine at Sports Direct in Derbyshire.
Tory MP Antoinette Sandbach, on the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, said officials “should do a deep dive into why ambulances are being called out in such large numbers to these sites”.
JD Sports said that, given its size, “the number of incidents” is proportionally very low and many were “unrelated” to work.
Asos and XPO Logistics, which runs the Barnsley site, said ambulances were called as a precaution. “Since 2013, the accident incident rate has declined considerably year-on-year and has remained significantly below the industry standard.”
Amazon claimed it has more than 40 per cent fewer injuries on average than other transportation and warehousing companies in the UK.
Tesco, Shop Direct and Sports Direct all declined to comment.
Matt Draper, of the Unite union, said: “The warehouses of some companies risk becoming the dark satanic mills of the 21st century. It doesn’t have to be this way though. Where employers work with trade unions and treat people with respect there are fewer accidents and a better health and safety record.”