Elon Musk's SpaceX is being fined $3,600 per month over a workplace incident that resulted in "near amputation" of one of its employees, new inspection record shows via Reuters.
According to inspection reports, the worker was injured after a roll of material, approximately 80 to 300 pounds heavy, fell and crushed on their foot.
The damage was severe due to the worker not wearing steel-toe shoes usually required for industrial workplaces like SpaceX. A SpaceX spokesperson dismissed the injury as a "one-time incident."
The recent discoveries were part of Reuters' ongoing investigation of the aerospace company's issues in worker-safety regulations and standard practices.
According to Reuters' investigation, at least 600 unreported injuries of SpaceX were reported since 2014.
This includes the death of an ex-Marine Corps from falling in 2014 and a rocket engine malfunction that resulted in a skull fracture and the comatose of another employee in 2022.
SpaceX Found Neglectful of Workplace Safety
For a company involved with heavy objects and most operating at elevated positions, SpaceX has been repeatedly scrutinized for failing to secure the safety of all of its workers.
An inspection from the US Department of Labor last December revealed several new safety violations on the SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington.
Among the reported concerns were the lack of a "thorough safety program," proper communication of workplace rules, and standard actions to "correct violations."
Other findings in the report were when one worker told the inspectors that "safety can get overlooked" as long as workers accomplish as many tasks "in a short amount of time."
The labor department is still deliberating on its findings and said that SpaceX is open to appealing its latest decisions.
Dangerous Workplaces Under Musk Leadership
Workplace dangers are not only exclusive to SpaceX all the companies Musk currently owns and leads as CEO.
Just a few months ago, it was reported that one of Tesla's software engineers was injured after one of its robots in its Giga factory in Austin, Texas, malfunctioned.
The reports indicate that the engineer suffered a "laceration, cut or open wound" from the robot originally designed to cut aluminum car parts.
The incident happened in 2021 but was kept under closed doors.
The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration has already alarmed warnings of high workplace incidents in Tesla with one out of every 21 workers being injured in 2022.
This was higher than injury reports in most automakers in the same year with an average of one out of 30 workers suffering injuries while on duty.
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