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

Quick Hits

• The Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Program (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, 2025, 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 on-site medical and first-aid practices, and require employee involvement.

Worksite Evaluation

By June 19, 2025, 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, but are not limited to, “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 thirty days of any new change listed above.

When a risk factor is identified, the covered employer must correct the risk within thirty days. If the risk cannot be remedied within thirty 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:

• “engineering controls and redesigning work stations to change shelving heights, provide adjustable fixtures or tool redesign”; and
• “administrative controls, such as job rotation which reduces the exposure to risk factors, reduced work pacing or additional work breaks.”

In addition, a covered employer’s efforts taken to eliminate or reduce risk factors must be recorded. If an employee or the 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, and 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 the summary protocols for medical treatment approved by the employer’s medical consultant;
• employees’ right to report risk factors, hazards, injuries, and health and safety concerns; and
• unlawful retaliation and workplace discrimination.

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

On-Site Medical Care

The WWIRP requires that all warehouses with on-site 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 on-site 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 on-site 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 on-site medical and first aid practices, ranging from early detection of musculoskeletal injuries and disorders through 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.

On-site 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 how to reduce or eliminate risks.