At one time, working at a Tesla (TSLA) -) Gigafactory was seen as a step up from the normal automotive factory job.
But to be part of one of the most innovative production teams in the automotive space, workers have had to endure heightened risk from on-the-job injuries.
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A report from The Information shows just how dangerous the company's factory in Texas was for at least one worker who was "attacked" by a robot they were charged with programming.
A Tesla engineer was injured by a robot that pinned him to the wall with its claws in 2021, according to a witness report and an injury report obtained by The Information, digging into the worker's back and arm and leaving an open wound of their left hand. The attack left a trail of blood.
The engineer was programming software that controls robots that cut car parts from aluminum casts. Two of the robots were disabled during the incident when a third, that was apparently left online, sank its robotic claws into the workers back and arm.
Sources told The Information that speedy production demands have led to lapses in safety at the Texas factory.
San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images/Getty Images
In recent years, Tesla workers have fallen ill after having been exposed to toxins such as ammonia. An employee last summer had his ankle caught under a moving cart, forcing him to miss more than four months of work. Another worker was struck in the head by a metal object, causing them to miss nearly three months of work, the Information reported.
Tesla is the automaker with the highest number of active workers of any car manufacturer in the U.S., according to injury attorney law firm Adamson Ahdoot.
But from 2014 to 2018, Tesla collected over triple the amount of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) violations than its top 10 rivals combined, according to Forbes.
Nine accidents during the period resulted in 22 OSHA violations. Seven complaints resulted in 18 OSHA violations, and four other incidents brought eight OSHA violations.
Meanwhile Tesla in recent years has said it is paying extra attention to its safety culture.
"Our goal is to become the world’s safest company by continuously integrating safety into the way we work and the products we build," the company said in a 2020 announcement where it claimed its worker injury rate was below the industry average.
However, earlier this month the California Division of OSHA hit Tesla with a $36,000 fine for negligence in the case of an employee who was "seriously injured" last April after a quality control specialist was trapped in a Model Y when the assembly line lurched forward, hitting an open door and slamming it shut.
California OSHA has claimed in the past that Tesla omitted hundreds of injuries from its annual summary data between 2015 and 2020.
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