Musk's SpaceX fined for 'near amputation' suffered by worker, records show
reuters.com
reuters.com
> The inspectors concluded the site lacked a “thorough safety program,” adequate communication of work rules, and a system to “correct violations,” the records said. The “near amputation,” as inspectors called it, occurred after a roll of material fell and crushed a worker’s foot.
> Managers at SpaceX told the state inspectors that it was a one-time incident and the problem was fixed.
> Inspectors, however, found that employees were not required to wear steel-toe shoes, even though the rolls of materials they had to load into a machine had gotten heavier - increasing from about 80 pounds to 300 pounds (36 kg to 136 kg) each.
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> In a separate incident reported less than 24 hours later, an unidentified Redmond employee was hospitalized for a broken ankle after they jumped off a dock during a fire alarm, which inspectors said the company could not have foreseen. SpaceX was not fined as a result.
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The Reuters report last year found that worker safety agencies fined the billionaire’s rocket company a total of $50,836 for various violations in the last decade.
> SpaceX’s history of injuries and regulatory run-ins underscores the limits of worker-safety regulation. Fines are capped by law and pose little deterrent for major companies, according to experts in U.S. worker safety. Federal and state regulators also suffer from chronic understaffing of inspectors, they said.
> The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which has paid SpaceX more than $11.8 billion as a private space contractor, did not respond to questions about the matter. The space agency has repeatedly declined to comment on the company’s safety record, saying only that the agency has the option of enforcing contract provisions that require SpaceX to “have a robust and effective safety program and culture.”
> Last month, the wife of the worker who is in a coma after his skull was fractured filed a negligence lawsuit against the company. NASA and SpaceX have not commented on that complaint.