SpaceX's injury rate exceeds industry average for second year

Injury rates at SpaceX exceeded the industry average for the second year in a row. According to the data, company employees are increasingly being injured on the job.

Injuries at SpaceX

In 2022, Reuters presented a report that described more than 600 unreported work-related injuries among SpaceX employees since 2014. Among them: 100 cuts, 29 fractures, 17 cases with “crushed” bones and 9 head injuries. In addition, burns, electric shocks, amputations and eye injuries were recorded. There are also over 170 sprains.

SpaceX employees say the injuries reflect the chaos at work. Due to frequent lack of training and overwork, personnel routinely ignore key safety procedures in their rush to meet space mission deadlines.

Injury rate in 2023

Data for 2023 reflects injuries that occurred at 8 large sites, which is 3 more sites than in 2022.

SpaceX's rocket booster recovery facility in the Pacific recorded 7.6 injuries per 100 workers in 2023, 9.5 times the industry average of 0.8 per 100 workers.

At SpaceX's production site and launch complex near Brownsville, the injury rate reached 5.9 per 100 workers in 2023. This is almost 7 times the average injury rate in the space industry and 1.1 points higher than in 2022.

At the McGregor base where Lonnie LeBlanc died in 2014, the rate reached 1.7, more than double the industry average.

SpaceX's Hawthorne manufacturing facility also displays an injury rate that is more than double the industry rate, at 1.7 per 100 workers.

At the company's Redmond plant, the injury rate increased by 0.7, reaching 1.5 cases per 100 workers.

"The SpaceX ethos is, 'We'll let you decide what's safe for you.' This is a terrible way to work in an industrial environment.”

Travis Carson, former SpaceX welder

Moreover, Musk's other venture, The Boring Company , is also under scrutiny for poor performance and hazardous working conditions, further raising concerns about the company's overall safety approach.

Opinion of occupational safety experts

The lack of data on the safety and protection of workers in the incidents reviewed by federal inspectors did not cause critical consequences for SpaceX. For violations that resulted in the death of one person and safety incidents for other employees, the company received a minor fine of $50,836.

Experts believe that the situation with neglect of labor protection should attract the attention of the company's partners, including NASA. In recent years, the American space program has become increasingly dependent on SpaceX, which has already received at least $11.8 billion in various contracts.

“NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work. A high injury rate may be an indicator of poor production quality.”

David Michaels, former OSHA administrator

SpaceX's injury history underscores the importance of responsible regulation to ensure employee safety. However, neither the company nor Elon Musk raised this topic publicly.