Big New York warehouses must cut the risks that injure workers

Lifting, bending, twisting, and working at a fast pace for hours can wear out a warehouse worker’s back, shoulders, and wrists. Since June 1, 2025, covered New York warehouse employers must address those risks. A competent professional must produce a written evaluation of each material-handling job, process, shift, and operation, though identical activities can be sampled. Employers must eliminate identified risks or reduce them as much as feasible, using measures such as better equipment, job rotation, a slower pace, or more breaks.

The law applies at covered warehouse distribution centers where an employer has at least 100 employees at one site or 1,000 across New York; staffing-agency employees count. Nonexempt workers who handle materials get annual injury-prevention training on paid time in a language they understand. Drivers and couriers to and from warehouses are excluded. You do not apply. You can see the evaluation, give input, and have a worker safety committee request review by a board-certified ergonomist. You may use your own doctor. Retaliation is illegal, and complaints go to the state Labor Department.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos carried the bill through the Senate in 2023, but it died in the Assembly. She and Assemblymember Harry Bronson brought it back in 2024. It passed the Senate 53–6 and the Assembly 141–0. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed it on December 21, 2024. Her administration and lawmakers then negotiated changes sponsored by Ramos and Bronson; Hochul signed them on February 14, 2025, setting the June 1 start date.