Reports suggest a culture of safety lapses at the Tesla facility.
New Delhi:
A software engineer reportedly suffered serious injuries when he was attacked by a malfunctioning robot designed to move aluminum car parts at Tesla’s Giga Texas factory in Austin, Texas. The robot reportedly pinned the engineer and inflicted wounds on his back and arm by sinking its claws, leaving a trail of blood on the factory floor. The incident, which happened two years ago, was revealed in a 2021 injury report.
According to the report, the engineer was programming software for robots tasked with cutting car parts from freshly cast aluminum. While two robots were disabled for maintenance, a third was inadvertently left active, leading to the attack. The injured engineer reportedly suffered an open wound on his left hand, although it was not severe. Tesla declined to comment on the incident.
Although no other robot-related injuries were reported at the Texas factory in 2021 or 2022, reports suggest a culture of safety lapses at the facility.
Injury reports submitted to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reveal a high injury rate at Giga Texas, with nearly one in 21 workers reported injured last year, significantly higher than the median injury rate of one in 30 workers in the automotive industry.
Current and former Tesla workers have alleged that the company often compromises on construction, maintenance, and operations, putting employees at risk.
The report says that in 2022, a water-submerged-in-molten-aluminum incident caused an explosion in the castings area, resulting in a sonic boom-like sound.
