A worker's "near dismemberment" led to a citation for Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to documents

A worker's "near dismemberment" led to a citation for Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to documents

According to a late-year Reuters investigation, Musk's rocket firm violated standard operating procedures and worker safety regulations at its locations around the nation.

A worker's "near dismemberment" led to a citation for Elon Musk's SpaceX, according to documents.

According to inspection documents accessed by Reuters, US workplace safety inspectors penalized Elon Musk's SpaceX $3,600 last month after an incident at the company's Washington state location that resulted in a "near amputation."

According to a late-year Reuters investigation, Musk's rocket firm violated standard operating procedures and worker safety regulations at its locations around the nation. After reviewing government documents and Integer's findings, the news outlet has at least 600 unreported injuries to SpaceX employees since 2014.

Regarding the accidents, which also involved the loss of one employee and the injury of another who is in a coma due to a fracture of his skull during the 2022 rocket engine failure, SpaceX did not reply to queries from Reuters. In addition, the business did not answer a request for information on the new security fine.

According to state inspection documents acquired by Reuters via an open records request, inspectors from the Washington state Department of Workers and Industries found additional safety breaches at the company's Redmond, Washington, plant last December as a result of worker complaints. According to an agency representative, SpaceX has the option to appeal the ruling.

According to the documents, inspectors found that the facility lacked a "thorough safety program," proper communication of work regulations, and a mechanism for "correcting violations." The incident, which inspectors dubbed "near amputation," happened when a roll of material dropped and crushed a worker's leg.

Managers from SpaceX assured state inspectors that it was an isolated incidence and that the issue had been resolved.

Inspectors discovered, however, that while the rolls of material needed to put them into the machine became larger, weighing between 36 and 136 kg (approximately 80 pounds to 300 pounds), workers were not obliged to wear steel-toed shoes. Kilogram) was completed. According to an agency spokesman, the potential of harm made the infraction significant.

Records show that an employee at the location informed inspectors that "safety could be ignored" since the company's "goal was to make as much money as possible in a short period of time." According to the wounded worker, the roll-loading equipment was "deliberately mis-installed to increase the production rate during the material loading stage."

Inspectors were informed by the employee—whose name was withheld from the report—that the issue had not been resolved and that business safety representatives neither "the reading comprehension nor an understanding to implement the precautionary measures Report Phrase at the Redmond site." Overall ability.

An anonymous Redmond employee was hospitalized with a fractured ankle in a separate incident that was reported less than 24 hours later; inspectors said that the firm had not anticipated this. SpaceX was not punished as a consequence. The person had jumped off a dock during a fire alarm.

Employee protection authorities punished the billionaire's rocket firm $50,836 for different offenses over the previous ten years, according to a Reuters investigation from last year.

The limits of worker-safety regulation are highlighted by SpaceX's history of injuries and regulatory run-ins. The fine is set by law and doesn't really deter big businesses, according to experts on US employee safety. Federal and state regulators also face a chronic inspector shortage.

The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which at first has paid SpaceX over $11.8 billion as a private space contractor, has not provided any details on the company's safety record, stating only that it has the authority to enforce contract provisions requiring SpaceX to maintain "a powerful and efficient safety program and culture." The space agency declined to reply to questions about the matter.

The worker's spouse, who suffered a cranial fracture and is now in a coma, sued the business for negligence last month; neither NASA nor SpaceX have responded to the litigation.