Rise of the machines: at the Tesla plant in Texas, a robot malfunctioned and attacked an engineer (4 photos)

Meanwhile, lawyer Hannah Alexander, who represents the interests of Tesla contract employees, believes that this is not the only case. In general, there are much more robot breakdowns in which people suffer than are officially recorded in production. And this is done because of tax benefits.





The incident that the media is reporting today happened back in 2011. Then the machine, designed to move newly cast aluminum car parts, suddenly rebelled and grabbed an engineer who was nearby and was repairing the disabled robots.



The Daily Mail claims that the victim suffered an open injury to his left arm, but did not require sick leave. But there is also other information. In particular, witnesses to that incident claim that another worker had to press the emergency stop button to turn off the mechanism. Only after this, the employee, freed from the robot’s grip, was able to leave the premises. The victim was bleeding and his back and arms were injured.





A succinct entry in Tesla's November 10, 2021, Form 300 report to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records a "laceration, cut, open wound" inflicted on the engineer by the "robot."

This case was included in the 2021 Annual Injury Report. In addition, it is reported that according to the information of Hannah Alexander's lawyer, this report was by no means complete. “We had several workers who were injured,” the lawyer said, “and one worker even died from heatstroke during the construction of the plant, but these cases do not appear in the documents.

It is known that back in 2018, Tesla did not report 36 injuries. Nearly 1 in 21 workers at Tesla's Giga plant in Texas were injured on the job in 2022, according to a survey by The Information. In comparison, the average injury rate in the auto industry is different: 1/30. One in 26 employees suffered more serious injuries at the Tesla plant, while the industry average at other major U.S. auto plants was 1 in 38. Those. every 38th employee of such enterprises received injuries that required medical intervention and absence from work for some time and/or transfer after the incident to another position due to the inability to perform previous duties. Tesla's OSHA reports show sprains, cuts and fractures suffered by workers from collisions with machines, as well as illnesses caused by exposure to toxins such as ammonia.



Giga Texas, also called Gigafactory 5

Some believe that the higher injury rate at the Tesla Giga plant in Texas was possible due to the accelerated pace of construction of the plant. One part of it had already been launched and functioned as a factory, the other was still under construction. Some argue that it was this policy that led to an increase in the growth of deficiencies both on the construction site and at the enterprise itself, for which there was constantly not enough time to debug.

By the way, several states competed for the right to host a new plant, and Texas, which offered the most favorable conditions, won. Texas authorities agreed to provide Tesla with a tax discount worth at least $14.7 million. For the sake of such a discount, you will keep silent about any injuries, just so as not to lose it.