New York Seeks to Minimize Injuries Among Warehouse Employees

On Dec. 21, 2024, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed into law the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Program (WWIRP—S5081C/A8907A), requiring certain warehouse employers in the state to prepare and implement formal injury reduction programs that identify and minimize the risks of musculoskeletal injuries to their employees.

Quick Hits

• The WWIRP applies to all employers that directly or indirectly employ at least 100 employees at a single warehouse distribution center or at least 1,000 employees at one or more warehouse distribution centers in New York.
• Effective June 1, the WWIRP mandates that all covered employers create and implement formal injury reduction programs that identify and minimize risks of musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace.
• Covered employers must work with employees to continuously evaluate and reduce or eliminate musculoskeletal risks in the workplace.
• Injury reduction programs must evaluate worksites and exposures (including the pace of performance), provide employee training, detail onsite medical and first-aid practices, and feature employee involvement.

Worksite Evaluation

By June 19, covered employers must enlist the help of a qualified ergonomist to evaluate each job, process, or operation—“or a representative number of … jobs, processes, or operations of identical work activities”—and provide a written evaluation for risk factors that cause or are likely to cause musculoskeletal injuries. Risk factors for evaluation include “rapid pace, forceful exertions, repetitive motions, twisting, bending, and awkward postures and combinations thereof” that may cause injuries. Worksite evaluations must also include a determination as to whether any employee who is exposed to such risk factors is subject to potential or actual adverse action arising from an employer’s use of quotas to determine employee assignments.

Employees who regularly work in such areas must be allowed to offer recommendations regarding risk factors and suggest changes to reduce risks.

Worksite evaluations must be reviewed and updated annually, identifying new risk factors whenever a new job, process, or operation is introduced that could increase the risk factors for musculoskeletal injuries. Any new analysis must be completed within 30 days of any new change listed above.

When a risk factor is identified, the covered employer must correct the risk within 30 days. If the risk cannot be remedied within 30 days, the employer must revise its corrective action, as needed, and provide a schedule for proposed corrections. If a risk cannot be eliminated, the employer must minimize the exposure “to the extent feasible,” including: 1) “engineering controls and redesigning work stations to change shelving heights, provide adjustable fixtures or tool redesign,” and 2) “administrative controls, such as job rotation which reduces the exposure to risk factors, reduced work pacing or additional work breaks.”

In addition, the efforts that a covered employer has taken to eliminate or reduce risk factors must be recorded. If an employee or an employee’s representative requests a copy of the worksite evaluation, the employer must provide a written copy of the results of the evaluation, at no cost, within one business day of such a request.

Injury Reduction Training

Employees who manually handle materials at the warehouse, as well as their supervisors, must be trained annually on ways to reduce injuries in the workplace.

The training must include information on:

• Identification of the early symptoms of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders and the importance of detecting symptoms early.
• Musculoskeletal injury and disorder risk factors and exposures in the workplace, including the hazards posed by excessive rates of work.
• Musculoskeletal injury and disorder prevention, including both engineering controls and administrative controls, such as limitations on work pace and increased use of scheduled and unscheduled breaks.
• The employer’s risk factor identification and prevention program, including a summary of the protocols for medical treatment approved by the employer’s medical consultant.
• Employees’ right to report risk factors, hazards, injuries, and health and safety concerns.
• Unlawful retaliation and workplace discrimination.

Injury reduction training must be paid; it must also be offered during employees’ normal hours of work and in a language and vocabulary that the employees will understand.

Onsite Medical Care

The WWIRP requires that all warehouses with onsite medical or first-aid stations that treat musculoskeletal injuries and disorders be staffed according to state supervision requirements and with medical professionals operating within their legal scope of practice. Employees retain the right to be treated by an authorized physician of their choosing.

In addition, covered employers with onsite medical or first-aid providers must consult with a medical consultant licensed by New York state and board-certified in occupational medicine to provide a written evaluation of the onsite medical or first-aid program’s protocols and treatments of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders. The medical consultant must also summarize suitable treatment protocols that cover all aspects of the onsite medical and first-aid practices, including early detection of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders and the implementation of appropriate work restrictions. The treatment protocols must be provided in languages understood by the employees. The medical consultant’s evaluation and protocols must be reviewed annually, recommending changes as needed.

Onsite medical professionals must have observed, “in person, the jobs involving manual materials handling within the warehouse and all risk factors identified in the evaluation conducted under the medical consultant evaluation.”

Key Takeaways

Following the enactment of New York’s Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which took effect in June 2023, the WWIRP is yet another attempt to safeguard warehouse employees from increased injuries at work—now specifically targeting musculoskeletal injuries and disorders. To comply with the law, covered employers may want to begin evaluating their worksites for risk factors and consider how to reduce or eliminate risks.

Yomaris Sanchez-Orona is an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Buffalo, N.Y. © 2025 Ogletree Deakins. All rights reserved. Reposted with permission.