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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached a settlement with Amazon about alleged hazardous workplace conditions at ten of the tech giant's facilities. Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon will pay a penalty of $145,000 and must implement "corporate-wide ergonomic measures" to reduce the risk of worker injuries. OSHA will also continue inspecting the facilities for the next two years. On the government side of the agreement, OSHA is withdrawing nine of its ten ergonomic citations against the company. Ergonomic injuries are also known as musculoskeletal disorders. These can include sprains and strains experienced on the job. A rep from the Department of Labor told ABC News that this settlement is the "largest of its kind" and "will resolve all outstanding ergonomic litigation" against Amazon. However, it will not impact a separate investigation into Amazon allegedly concealing workplace injuries that is currently underway at the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. Amazon has denied those charges. Amazon's workforce also made news this week as strikes began at multiple facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York. Members of the Teamsters union organized the effort, with several union chapters voting yesterday to take action against the company. The Teamsters had called on Amazon to negotiate around working conditions, wages and benefits, asking the company to agree to bargaining dates for a contract by December 15. Local journalists from Hell Gate captured footage of the first day of strikes in Queens, NY, showing a peaceful picket line being broken by local police, who reportedly erected barricades to allow contractors to enter and leave the Amazon distribution center. If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazons insatiable greed," Teamsters General President Sean M. OBrien said in a statement from the organization. "We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/amazon-to-pay-osha-145000-in-workplace-safety-settlement-230933629.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
What started off as a quirky pharmacy mascot has evolved into a cultural phenomenon, culminating in November 2024s Simifest, a music festival blurring the lines between brand marketing and grassroots fandom. Dr. Simi, the cheerful, mustachioed mascot of Mexicos Farmacias Similares, is a familiar figure seen dancing outside pharmacy doors to promote the chains low-cost generic medications. (Farmacias Similares operates over 9,500 stores in Mexico and other Latin American countries.) In recent years, fans transformed him into an unlikely icon of concert culture, tossing plush Dr. Simi dolls at music stars like Lady Gaga and Rosalía as gestures of admiration. It turned the pharmacy mascot into a viral sensation.Rather than dismissing the fan-led movement, Farmacias Similares leaned into it, creating a festival celebrating Dr. Simis role in pop culture. In addition to acts like Anderson. Paak, Jungle, Ely Guerra and Technicolor Fabrics, the Mexico City event offered more than just a nod to the pharmacy chain; it featured cosplay contests, fan art and plenty of opportunities to interact with Dr. Simi. Its a lesson in harnessing the energy of customers who co-opt and reinterpret brand symbols to express broader values. With consumers increasingly skeptical of traditional marketing, Simifest shows how to foster spaces where audiences feel seen, heard and free to play.Some of todays most resonant brand narratives arent top-down campaigns but emergent, co-created stories that thrive on social medias participatory dynamics. Dr. Simis evolution from pharmacy mascot to cultural icon reflects a deeper societal shift: people crave experiences that blend humor, authenticity and community. By embracing this shift, Farmacias Similares transformed a corporate mascot into a symbol of fun, connection and national pride. Other brands: time to release control and let consumers lead the way?!
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Marketing and Advertising
Waymos fleet of driverless vehicles are operating in more cities and a study indicates that may reduce crashes on roadways. The study, a non-paid partnership between Waymo itself and reinsurer Swiss Re, indicated Waymos cars result in fewer insurance claims than those operated by people. Swiss Re analyzed liability claims from collisions covering 25.3 million miles driven by Waymos autonomous cars. The study also compared Waymos liability claims to human driver baselines based on data from over 500,000 claims and over 200 billion driving miles. The results found that Waymo Driver demonstrated better safety performance when compared to human-driver vehicles.. The study found cars operated by Alphabets Waymo Driver resulted in 88 percent fewer property damage claims and 92 percent fewer bodily injury claims. Swiss Re also invented a new metric to compare Waymo Driver against only newer vehicles with advanced safety tech, like driver assistance, automated emergency braking and blind spot warning systems, instead of against the whole corpus of those 200 billion driving miles. In this comparison, Waymo still came out ahead with an 86 percent reduction in property damage claims and a 90 percent reduction on bodily damage claims. Of course, there are two glaring issues. First is that Waymo currently only operates in cities, which, yes, account for the bulk of crashes in the US, but rural areas account for a much higher number of crashes (especially fatal ones) proportional to their population. (The study, incidentally, states that having exurban data included in the baseline metrics actually cuts against Waymo's true safety numbers.) Second: Waymo simply hasn't been around that long. It's very hard to get an accurate measure of the system when its real-world testing period has been so relatively short. The numbers may look good for Waymo Driver in studies but they arent perfect by any stretch. Waymo issued its second recall over the summer when one of its robotaxis hit a street level telephone pole at 8 mph in Phoenix. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation into Waymo and found 24 incidents that involved crashes or traffic violations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymos-driverless-cars-are-apparently-an-insurance-companys-dream-220746643.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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