Alarm bells have been raised following recent reports that the Tesla auto plant in Austin, Texas, has been the scene of frequent injuries and one death and that the company may be downplaying or failing to report incidents to regulators.
In a horrifying example of alleged factory protection failures, a recently published report says a Tesla engineer who programmed software for two disabled car-building robots was arrested through one of them.
The report, from 2021, states that the device lifted the engineer from behind and arm and cut off his hand. Tesla’s report adds that the painter did want to be absent from the paintings as a result of the incident.
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However, in interviews with the Worker Defense Project, two witnesses said the incident was even more horrific than reports claim. They said they desperately struggled to press the emergency prevention button as the engineer struggled to break free from the robot’s grip.
After escaping the robot, it fell “a few feet into a chute designed to collect scrap aluminum, leaving a trail of blood,” according to a report published in The Information. While robots have not been reported to have caused other incidents at the plant, injuries are still uncommon.
According to a study, one in 21 employees at Tesla’s factory in Giga Texas was injured on the job in 2022. One in 26 employees was injured so much that they had to take time off work. For comparison, the industry’s median injury is one in 30 employees. while the median number of injuries requiring sick leave is one in 38.
The incident rate is such that Tesla has been accused of making false statements or failing to report injuries. Hannah Alexander, a lawyer with the Workers’ Defence Project, told the Daily Mail that the company had not even reported the death of a worker at the structure.
“Several employees were injured,” Alexander said. And an employee who died, whose injuries or death are not on the reports that Tesla is required to complete and submit to the county for tax incentives. “”.
Indeed, in a contract with Travis County, where the plant is located, Tesla has agreed to compile a compliance report to qualify for $60 million in tax breaks. Alexander believes that the company may be violating its agreement.
The Texas plant is no exception for the company, which has earned a reputation for lax protection criteria and poor operating conditions. In California, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) found that Tesla excluded injuries from its reports to regulators. Perhaps one of the attractive facets of moving to Texas was the state’s permissive protection rules.
Still, Alexander says the construction staff he spoke to at the plant were injured on the task and their injuries were not reported. She believes the speed at which Tesla operates and its willingness to get production lines up and running while the factory was under construction could have contributed to the top of fate.