A SpaceX worker suffered a ‘near amputation’ of his foot while working at billionaire owner Elon Musk‘s factory in Washington.
The incident — which began when a roll of material fell and crushed a worker’s foot and resulted in a $3,600 fine from regulators — joins no less than 600 previously unreported injuries unearthed late last year, including over one hundred cases with severe damage and at least one death.
That investigative report by Reuters tallied four concussions, 17 cases where hands or fingers were ‘crushed,’ eight that required amputations, five electrocutions, 29 cases with broken or dislocated bones, and many more.
But, despite SpaceX’s far-above-average rate of worker injuries, Musk’s firm has faced less than $51,000 in government penalties, a drop in the bucket alongside the $11.8 billion in NASA contracts it has enjoyed since its founding in 2002.
One disaffected former employee, Travis Carson, has described ‘SpaceX’s idea of safety is: “We’ll let you decide what’s safe for you,” which really means there was no accountability.’
An accident that led to a ‘near amputation’ at Elon Musk ‘s SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington has resulted in a $3,600 fine from regulators this month. The incident joins no less than 600 previously unreported injuries unearthed by Reuters, including least one death
But, despite SpaceX’s far above-average rate for worker injuries, Musk (right) and his firm have faced less than $51,000 in government penalties – a drop in the bucket alongside the reported $11.8 billion in NASA contracts that SpaceX has enjoyed since its founding in 2002
Carson, a former welder and production supervisor at SpaceX’s factory and launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, told Reuters reporters that several of the accidents he witnessed would be ‘a firing offense at other places.’
‘But not at SpaceX,’ Carson said. ‘They needed bodies, and Elon needed stuff done.’
Another SpaceX worker attributed this latest known on-site injury — the ‘near amputation’ at the Redmond site — to safety officials who do not ‘have the reading comprehension nor the overall competency to implement a safety plan.’
The worker, quoted anonymously in the government investigation that led to the $3,600 fine, told inspectors that the hazardous condition in question had not been a mere accident.
One SpaceX worker attributed this latest known on-site injury — the ‘near amputation’ at the Redmond site — to safety officials who do not ‘have the reading comprehension nor the overall competency to implement a safety plan’
First, the machine which held the heavy rolls of material, which caused the injury, ‘had been deliberately set up incorrectly for the purpose of increasing the production rate during the material loading phase.’
Second, the weight of each roll that SpaceX employees were tasked with loading into the machine had been increased from 80 pounds to 300 pounds each.
Third, as government inspectors soon discovered, SpaceX’s Redmond employees were not required to wear protective steel-toed shoes — an oversight that the agency’s spokesperson described to Reuters as a serious violation.
Less than 24 hours after the roll had crushed the employee’s foot, another accident occurred: an unidentified employee broke their ankle during a fire alarm.
Inspectors determined that SpaceX was not liable for the broken ankle incident and was not fined as a result.
Musk is well known for running his companies with a high level of intensity, expecting workers go ‘extremely hardcore’ in honor of his companies’ lofty sense of purpose.
‘Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as fast as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,’ Tom Moline, a former SpaceX senior avionics engineer, told Reuters.
Moline was one of several employees fired after raising workplace safety complaints.
‘The company justifies casting aside anything that could stand in the way of accomplishing that goal,’ Moline said, ‘including worker safety.’
At one incident at Musk’s SpaceX facility in McGregor, Texas, Lonnie LeBlanc and his co-workers realized they had a problem.
They needed to transport foam insulation to the rocket company’s main hangar but had no straps to secure the cargo.
SpaceX technicians work on the Crew Dragon Demo-2 craft at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. There’s virtually nothing painted ‘warning yellow’ in sight, due to Musk’s distaste for the color for reasons of personal style
LeBlanc, a relatively new employee, offered a solution to hold down the load: He sat on it.
After the truck drove away, a gust of wind blew LeBlanc and the insulation off the trailer, slamming him headfirst into the pavement.
LeBlanc, 38, who had retired nine months earlier from the U.S. Marine Corps. He was pronounced dead from head trauma at the scene.
Federal inspectors with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later determined that SpaceX had failed to protect LeBlanc from a clear hazard, noting the gravity and severity of the violation.
LeBlanc’s co-workers told OSHA that SpaceX had no convenient access to tie-downs and no process or oversight for handling such loads. SpaceX acknowledged the problems, and the agency instructed the company to make seven specific safety improvements, including more training and equipment, according to the inspection report.
Musk himself at times appeared cavalier about safety on visits to SpaceX sites: Four employees said he sometimes played with a novelty flamethrower
Videos posted online show it can shoot a thick flame more than five feet long. Musk played with the device in close-quarters office settings, said the engineer, who at one point feared Musk would set someone´s hair on fire
Musk himself at times appeared cavalier about safety on visits to SpaceX sites: Four employees said he sometimes played with a novelty flamethrower.
For years, Musk and his deputies found it ‘hilarious’ to wave the flamethrower around, firing it near other people and giggling ‘like they were in middle school,’ one engineer said.
Musk tweeted in 2018 that the flamethrower was ‘guaranteed to liven up any party!’ At SpaceX, Musk played with the device in close-quarters office settings, said the engineer, who at one point feared Musk would set someone’s hair on fire.
Last year, an open letter penned by some SpaceX employees criticized Musk’s behavior as a ‘source of distraction and embarrassment.’
But some at SpaceX have spoken highly of the efficiency that comes with less bureaucracy under Musk’s leadership.
‘There’s a certain amount of red tape that SpaceX avoids, which allows it to move faster’ said former company engineer Chris Cunnington, who worked at the McGregor, Texas site.
Despite its integral role in funding SpaceX, to the tune of $11.8 billion in contracts, the NASA has not commented on Musk’s company’s safety record.
But the US space agency said that retains the power to enforce contract provisions requiring SpaceX to implement ‘a robust and effective safety program and culture.’
