Tesla is facing an investigation into safety at its Texas Gigafactory after a worker died on site last week. The Tesla employee died on Thursday after a reported cardiac arrest and investigators are now looking into whether workplace hazards and safety violations could have contributed to the death.
First responders were called to Tesla’s factory on the outskirts of Austin last Thursday, reports local news outlet San Antonio Express News. Emergency services arrived on the scene at 8:30am to what was initially reported as an emergency but was later altered to be in response to a “deceased person.”
Details of the death are thin and Tesla has so far not commented on the incident publicly. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has and says it will now investigate the death. As San Antonio Express News reports:
The Occupational Health and Safety Administration will now investigate. The agency investigates complaints, deaths or injuries at worksites that result in hospitalizations. An agency spokesperson said the death investigation could take up to six months and that it is too early to comment further.
Failure to provide a safe working environment could result in federal fines — something Elon Musk’s companies have faced before.
OSHA’s California division cited Tesla $38,000 for what it described as “serious” injuries in December 2023 associated with an incident at its Fremont plant. A worker was trapped in a Model Y vehicle due to a malfunctioning conveyor belt. The company contested the fines.
Tesla has repeatedly faced questions over working conditions at its factories in California and Texas. Employees have reportedly been stuck dealing with long hours, unsafe working conditions and accusations of harassment across the board at Tesla, reports Futurism.
The issues appear to extend beyond our borders as well, with Futurism adding that a worker died at Tesla’s Chinese facility last year. Following the death in February 2023, Chinese government inspectors found that Tesla had “weaknesses in its safety measures” at the Shanghai plant. As Futurism adds:
We still don’t know if the latest death at Tesla’s Austin factory was in any way related to these harsh working conditions.
But given Tesla’s total lack of a PR department, it’s unlikely we’ll get more details about the incident until OSHA has completed its investigation.
The findings of the OSHA investigation into this month’s death at Tesla Austin plant aren’t expected before the end of this year. It follows allegations of inadequate safety procedures at Tesla’s plants, complaints of unsafe working conditions in Texas and a fine over injuries at its facilities.