After shelving its annual compilation of the country's "Dirty Dozen" employers last year during the pandemic, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) is back with an all-new list of companies who, according to National COSH, "put workers, families and communities at risk." Actually, the list isn't quite all-new, as Amazon has now appeared on it three times.
"The Dirty Dozen are companies that needlessly expose workers to preventable hazards, leading to preventable illnesses, injuries and fatalities," explains Jessica Martinez, co-executive director of National COSH.
Before we take a close look at the 12 companies on this year's list, it's important to note -- as we do every time we publish this slideshow -- that National COSH tends to single out companies who are resistant to unionization efforts. National COSH, after all, is an advocacy group whose aims include establishing and strengthening unions. Although some of the companies on this Dirty Dozen list have significant safety violations and citations on their record, others seem to be on the list not so much for severity of safety risks as for their prominence within their industry. This article offers a more detailed explanation of exactly how companies are chosen for, and how they end up on, the Dirty Dozen.
That explains why, for instance, Hilton Hotels is on this list and why many smaller companies you probably never heard of with far worse safety records than Hilton are not on the list. The major "safety violation" attributed to Starbucks is that the company "fires workers organizing for better safety conditions," according to National COSH. And Amazon, despite its leadership (along with the National Safety Council) to address and end musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace, has proven to be resistant to union organizing activities.
Here are links to previous recipients of the Dirty Dozen designation:
'Dirty Dozen' List Details 12 Most Egregious Employers of 2020
The 12 Most Dangerous Companies of 2019