Associated Incidents
A Tesla software engineer suffered serious injuries when he was attacked by a malfunctioning robot on the floor of the electric car maker’s factory in Austin, Texas.
Witnesses told the Information last month that the robot, which was designed to move aluminum car parts, pinned the engineer and sank its metal claws into his back and arm, leaving a trail of blood along the floor.
The engineer was programming software that controls robots whose job it is to cut car parts from freshly cast pieces of aluminum.
While two of the robots were disabled so that the engineer and his crew could work on the machines, a third was inadvertently left on — resulting in the attack two years ago, witnesses told the Information.
The news site said it obtained an injury report that was submitted to federal officials as well as to health authorities in Travis County.
The engineer suffered a “laceration, cut or open wound” on his left hand, according to the Information.
The injury was apparently not severe enough to require the employee to take time off from work.
Tesla declined to comment.
Injury reports submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration alleged that nearly one out of every 21 workers at the Giga Texas factory got hurt last year.
In the automotive industry, the median injury rate last year was one in every 30 workers.
Several current and former Tesla workers employed at the factory told the Information that the company regularly cut corners on construction, maintenance and operations in a manner that placed them at risk.
Sources told the Information that management’s demands for speedy production have led to safety lapses.
Witnesses reported that heavy machinery including a crane, a steel beam and an air conditioning duct have fallen near workers on car production lines.
Records reviewed by the Information found that workers at the factory fell ill after they were exposed to toxins such as ammonia.
In the summer last year, an employee’s ankle was caught under a moving cart, forcing them to miss more than four months of work.
Days later, another worker was struck in the head by a metal object, forcing them to miss 85 days of work, according to the Information.
Tesla employees at the factory said they witnessed forklifts collide with workers on the assembly floor.
On or around the New Year’s 2023, water was accidentally submerged in molten aluminum used in the castings area that produces the underbody of Tesla’s Model Y — resulting in an explosion that witnesses reported sounded like a “sonic boom,” according to the Information.
The explosion sent a ball of fire and then smoke into the air and caused employees to run off in terror, according to the report.
However, it is unknown how many people were injured, since that information is not included in documents submitted to safety inspectors in Texas, the Information reported.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s company began construction on the factory in the summer of 2020 after the mogul was outraged by California regulators who limited business operations due to the spread of the coronavirus.
Tesla started building the 10 million-square-foot facility in the summer of 2020 after CEO Elon Musk clashed with California officials over COVID lockdown measures. AFP via Getty Images
In late 2021, Tesla officially relocated its headquarters from Palo Alto, Calif., to Austin.
Musk has stated that he aims for the 10 million-square-foot facility to help produce 20 million cars annually by 2030.
Construction at the Texas facility is ongoing. By the time work is finished, Tesla aims to employ 60,000 people there.
Tesla has said it expects to spend up to $10 billion to complete construction of the plant.