It all started with a fire drill.
This past December, approximately 13 firefighter crews arrived at a Las Vegas tunnel dug by Boring Company, Elon Musk’s $5.6 billion underground transportation startup. After two hours practicing the rescue of a 200-pound mannequin dummy, two of the firefighters ended up in the hospital with chemical burns from the “muck” liquid that pools in the base of the tunnels—a mixture of chemicals, groundwater, and earth. Nevada’s workplace safety regulator launched an investigation and issued three “willful” citations against Boring Co.—the most aggressive violations the state OSHA can levy.
