I’ll be honest, I’m struggling to see how this is tesla’s fault.
If I hire an electrician to do wiring at home, and they send along some guy who isn’t trained, and he then electrifies himself through negligence - should I be sued by him? What could I have done differently?
On an industrial worksite? Absolutely, the owner should be responsible for safety. Otherwise it's too easy for big companies to throw up their hands and say "oh, that tower crane that collapsed and killed a bunch of people on our construction project? Sorry, it's owned by a shell company in China. Good luck collecting any damages from us!"
The difference is licensed electrician is trained and qualified to wire a home safely. That's a requirement because home owners are typically dingbats.
Tesla is a manufacturing corporation. The responsibility flows the other way.
Of course, from a _moral_ perspective "they're a contractor" isn't a 100% bulletproof defence, given how fast and loose some companies will play with the definition of employee vs contractor.
Friend of mine works at a place where a few years ago an electrician was burned when a 440 panel blew up on him and they were shut down for 6 months while the house engineers, maintence personal and contractors were 'retrained'
Then again they aren't 'Tesla'
I’m perpetually surprised at how crap even supposedly trained electricians are. At best they don’t understand the consequences of not doing something properly. Even domestic electricians I’ve hired, because I’m not allowed to certify the work myself here in the UK, I’ve had to correct their work when they have gone.
Re: correcting their work, ditto. Was fuming a month ago when I discovered two rings connected to the same socket - and managed to fit the two way dimmer (single common on a dual gang) he’d said was impossible. Think he only knew of one by-rote way to do a two-way, and didn’t actually understand what he was doing. Hell, he thought the US uses DC power - I explained that it was just a different voltage, and AC, and the look on his face said “voltage?”, so I left it at that.
He didn’t even notice I’d rewired when he came back to sign off “his” work.
OTOH there are incompetents in all fields - just that electricity is a pretty bad thing to be incompetent at if it’s your job - I learned a healthy respect for the tingly stuff the hard way.
Oh, and I was recently in Uruguay, where nobody seems to understand what the funny green and yellow wire is for, and hook it up to live. Metal skinned laptop. Funky chicken.
An employer has a moral duty to ensure the wellbeing of their employees and organisation by applying foresight and minimising risks, and covering unavoidable risks with insurance.
In my book, the responsibility sits firmly with the employer - not another business who had a contract with that employer, and a reasonable expectation that that employer would be adequately competent and insured.
If anything, there was a failure on Tesla’s behalf around due diligence.
If the law disagrees with me, so be it - but it seems unreasonable.