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In an ongoing effort to emphasize wellness and safety, Amazon fulfillment center BWI2 in Canton brought Baltimore Ravens player Anthony Levine Sr. in to lead a WorkingWell class for its employees on June 11, 2021.
Amazon’s recently launched WorkingWell program is part of the company’s investment of more than $300 million into safety projects in 2021 and its mission to be Earth’s Safest Place to Work.
Levine, a safety, has a deep-rooted passion for fitness and wellness which made him an ideal fit to lead Amazon’s employees in the special stretching and exercise routine that features some of the company’s latest safety and health programming.
To begin, Levine introduced himself, explained the importance of stretching and expressed his devotion toward health, wellness and fitness before leading the group of about 30 employees on a series of stretching exercises for them to do before, during and after their shifts to reduce the likelihood of injury.
The assortment of stretches included wrist rotations; 20 hand squeezes to loosen hands and fingers; shoulder and lat stretch; neck stretches; lower back twists; ankle rotations – clockwise and counterclockwise; and quad stretches. Suffering a broken arm, foot and collar bone over the course of his career taught him the importance of stretching.
The process of going through recovery, rehabilitation and working vigorously to improve physical condition were valuable learning experiences, he said.
“Every injury that I’ve had, it kind of helped me in a sense,” said Levine, a nine-year veteran who will be returning with the Ravens this upcoming season on a one-year contract. “It helped me realize the importance of each injury and each part of my body so now I’m a lot better.”
Levine added that he would have loved if something similar to WorkingWell was around during his younger days when he worked with Sam’s Club.
To conclude the 20-minute routine, Levine and Amazon employees also did forward, back and side lunges, squats, arm raises and calf stretches, as he went on to highlight the importance of blood circulation, the core and other body groups. Following the WorkingWell huddle, Levine gave autographs and took pictures with employees. He felt that Amazon’s new safety and wellness initiative was a superb idea.
“It might encourage people to want to exercise more, to want to work on their body, to want to get going,” said Levine, a native of Louisiana. “So this right here, this might be the fire that they needed to get them going, to get them exercising, to get them thinking about a healthy lifestyle outside of [healthy] eating.”
Various aspects of the WorkingWell program commenced in the U.S. in 2019, and has since expanded to 859,000 associates at 350 sites in North America and Europe, according to Amazon.
By the end of the year, WorkingWell aims to extend its scope, covering all of Amazon’s operations network in the nation with the aim of cutting recordable incident rates by 50 percent by 2025. The health and safety initiative also emphasizes healthy eating along with mental activities proven to help associates recharge and re-energize, according to Amazon.
Robert Taylor was one of the 30 Amazon associates who participated in the WorkingWell routine with Levine. He said it was an enjoyable experience.
“I really enjoyed this. It was great meeting an NFL player from the Ravens and it gave us more of a reason to workout and exercise before, and after, and during our shift,” said Taylor, who is approaching his sixth year with the company.
“It shows that Amazon does care about our safety. They want us to leave in the same condition that we came to work in, and make sure we don’t get hurt while we’re delivering smiles to our customers.”
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