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, adds to no less than 600 previously unreported injuries unearthed late last year, including more than one hundred cases with serious injuries and at least one death.
That Reuters investigative report counted four concussions, 17 cases in which 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 much higher-than-average worker injury rate, Musk’s company has faced less than $51,000 in government penalties, a drop in the bucket alongside NASA’s $11.8 billion in contracts. which it has enjoyed since its founding in 2002.
One disgruntled former employee, Travis Carson, described that “SpaceX’s idea of safety is, ‘We’ll let you decide what’s safe for you,’ which really means there was no liability.”
An accident that resulted in 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 adds to as many as 600 previously unreported injuries discovered by Reuters, including at least one death.
But despite the much higher-than-average rate of injuries among SpaceX workers, Musk (right) and his company have faced less than $51,000 in government penalties — a drop in the ocean along with the $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 center in Brownsville, Texas, told Reuters reporters that several of the accidents he witnessed would be “a firing offense elsewhere.”
“But not at SpaceX,” Carson said. “They needed bodies and Elon needed things done.”
Another SpaceX worker attributed this latest known injury at the site (the “near amputation” at the Redmond site) to safety officials who do not “have the reading comprehension or general competency to implement a safety plan.”
The worker, named anonymously in the government investigation that led to the $3,600 fine, told inspectors that the dangerous condition in question had not been a simple accident.
A SpaceX worker attributed this latest known injury at the site (the “near amputation” at the Redmond site) to safety officials who do not “have the reading comprehension or general competency to implement a safety plan.”
Firstly, the machine holding the heavy rolls of material that caused the injury “had been deliberately incorrectly configured in order to increase the production rate during the material loading phase.”
Second, the weight of each roll that SpaceX employees had to load into the machine had been increased from 80 pounds to 300 pounds each.
Third, as government inspectors soon discovered, SpaceX employees in Redmond were not required to wear protective steel-toed shoes, an oversight that the agency spokesperson described to Reuters as a serious infraction.
Less than 24 hours after the roll crushed the employee’s foot, another accident occurred: an unidentified employee broke his ankle during a fire alarm.
Inspectors determined that SpaceX was not responsible for the ankle fracture incident and was not fined as a result.
Musk is well known for running his companies with a high level of intensity, expecting workers to become “extremely tough” in honor of his companies’ heightened sense of purpose.
“Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as quickly as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,” Tom Moline, former SpaceX senior avionics engineer, told Reuters.
Moline was one of several employees fired after filing complaints about workplace safety.
“The company justifies leaving out anything that might get in the way of achieving that goal,” Moline said, “including worker safety.”
In an 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 they didn’t have straps to secure the cargo.
SpaceX technicians work on the Crew Dragon Demo-2 spacecraft at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. There is virtually nothing painted in ‘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 for securing the load: He sat on it.
After the truck drove away, a gust of wind tore LeBlanc and the insulation off the trailer, slamming him head-first into the pavement.
LeBlanc, 38, who had retired nine months earlier from the United States Marine Corps. He was pronounced dead from head trauma at the scene.
Federal inspectors from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) later determined that SpaceX had failed to protect LeBlanc from clear danger, noting the seriousness and seriousness of the violation.
LeBlanc’s co-workers told OSHA that SpaceX had no convenient access to moorings and no process or oversight for handling such loads. SpaceX acknowledged the problems and the agency ordered the company to make seven specific safety improvements, including more training and equipment, according to the inspection report.
Musk himself sometimes seemed cavalier about security 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 tight office environments, said the engineer, who at one point feared Musk would set someone’s hair on fire.
Musk himself sometimes seemed cavalier about security on visits to SpaceX sites: Four employees said he sometimes played with a novelty flamethrower.
For years, Musk and his aides found it “fun” to wave the flamethrower, fire it near other people and laugh “like they were in high 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 tight office environments, said the engineer, who at one point feared Musk would set someone’s hair on fire.
Last year, an open letter written by some SpaceX employees criticized Musk’s behavior as a “source of distraction and embarrassment.”
But some at SpaceX have praised the efficiency that comes with less bureaucracy under Musk’s leadership.
“SpaceX avoids a certain amount of red tape, which allows it to move faster,” said former company engineer Chris Cunnington, who worked in McGregor, Texas.
Despite its integral role in funding SpaceX, to the tune of $11.8 billion in contracts, NASA has not commented on the safety record of Musk’s company.
But the US space agency said it retains the power to enforce contract provisions that require SpaceX to implement “a robust and effective safety program and culture.”