Incident at Fremont Factory

[Apoclyps]

Tesla Employees Burned at Factory

The folks at Tesla can't seem to catch a break these days. Hoping the 3 recover fully and quickly.

http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Three-workers-burned-at-Tesla-plant-4980999.php

 

[anticitizen13.7]

Wishing the workers a full and speedy recovery.

Nice response from Elon--I can't think of anyone on this planet that I respect more than that guy.

I'm also very grateful that Elon shows concern for the injured workers. For all his awkwardness on TV, Elon seems like a genuinely good fellow.

 

[BestRadar]

If 3 workers were injured at a GM plant it would not have been news. Media seems to love to report issues any issues with Tesla.

 

[hileyms]

Agree with BestRadar. Even made the UK papers. Best of luck to the 3 injured workmen.

 

[Doug_G]

UK? That is absurd. If it were any other factory in the world it would have only appeared in the local paper.

More importantly, I hope the three employees are okay and wish them a speedy recovery.

 

[Lump]

Elon visits the injured at the hospital & more...Tesla CEO Elon Musk Visits Injured Workers at Hospital | NBC Bay Area

 

[Owner]

Here in Silicon Valley we are fortunate in that the media (at least the San Jose Mercury) covers tech pretty well. I don't think Tesla is getting more attention than say Apple, Google and other consumer tech companies such as Facebook, Netscape or Atari in their heydays. The larger more consumer oriented companies get a lot of attention, the non-consumer companies get significantly less attention but still get covered.

I do agree the national media picks up on the 'sensationalistic' or 'fear' stuff like the 3 fires or 'range anxiety' and not the nitty gritty that we get here locally.

If 3 workers were injured at a GM plant it would not have been news. Media seems to love to report issues any issues with Tesla.

 

[brianstorms]

Eerie... I was just at the factory the day before. Those aluminum stamping machines are formidable beasts.

 

[Merrill]

I wonder how many accidents happen every year at all the automobile factories in this country. You never hear a peep about any of them. The media seems to want to exploit anything bad that happens with Tesla. Also would be interesting to know how many CEO's and founders of the above automobile manufactures show up at the hospital to check on there employees.

 

[Grendal]

The article mentions that one of the three had already gone home so he must be in good shape. The second, Elon mentions that he should have a full recovery. The third, Jesus, had burns on his hands and from Elon's reaction it must be pretty severe. Good luck, Jesus, I hope you get better soon.

 

[JPP]

Eerie... I was just at the factory the day before. Those aluminum stamping machines are formidable beasts.

Don't think it was the stamping presses but some kind of aluminum casting system.

 

[J in MN]

I wonder how many accidents happen every year at all the automobile factories in this country.

Using the OSHA website referenced in the NBC story, I found the following for 11/13/2008 to 11/13/2013:

Tesla: 2 (excluding this most recent one)
GM: 2
Ford: 1
Chrysler: 0
Fiat: 0
Toyota: 0
Honda: 0
Nissan: 0
BMW: 0
VW: 0
MB: 0

 

[CalDreamin]

Well.... there are 5,000 employees working 40 hours a week. At 73-Million hours a year and only 3 injuries to date, Tesla factory is the is 5X safer than any other automotive factory.

These are not the only injuries to date at the Tesla factory. Most workplace injuries in manufacturing do not get media attention like getting burned by hot liquids on the job. Most workplace injuries are things that could happen almost anywhere, like sprains, strains, broken bones, pinch/crush injuries, lacerations, etc.

The OSHA workplace injury/illness Total Case Rate (TCR) for the Fremont factory in 2011 was 5.7 per 100 full-time workers per year. The average TCR in 2011 for the US automobile manufacturing industry was 13.4 per 100 full-time workers per year. I cannot find the 2012 stats.
Establishment Specific Injury and Illness Rates
http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb3191.txt

 

[Seven7]

Was probably either MIM Metal Injection Molding or Investment Casting... Either can make a mess when something goes wrong. It happens...

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Using the OSHA website referenced in the NBC story, I found the following for 11/13/2008 to 11/13/2013:

Tesla: 2 (excluding this most recent one)
GM: 2
Ford: 1
Chrysler: 0
Fiat: 0
Toyota: 0
Honda: 0
Nissan: 0
BMW: 0
VW: 0
MB: 0

More on those two other incidents here:

Official: Tesla factory had previous violation - Yahoo Finance

 

[Grendal]

I would not be surprised if Tesla had a higher than average incident rate. It is a growing factory with lots of new hires. They are also working very hard to maximize production in that situation.

 

[Doug_G]

Using the OSHA website referenced in the NBC story, I found the following for 11/13/2008 to 11/13/2013:

Tesla: 2 (excluding this most recent one)
GM: 2
Ford: 1
Chrysler: 0
Fiat: 0
Toyota: 0
Honda: 0
Nissan: 0
BMW: 0
VW: 0
MB: 0

Somehow I doubt this list is comprehensive. It took all of a few seconds with Google to find accidents at various automakers, e.g.
Nissan employee injured at Smyrna plant
Injury at Toyota plant avoidable, suit alleges
West Virginia Record Worker dies from extreme heat at Georgia auto parts plant
etc.

 

[Vger]

Years ago, I got to tour the Ferrari factory in Maranello, and watched aluminum casting in their foundry. It is really freaky that molten aluminum does not glow like steel, it looks just like mercury, so you cannot tell how hot it is.

Very sad for the one severely injured worker. Hope he is not disabled permanently.

 

[J in MN]

Somehow I doubt this list is comprehensive. It took all of a few seconds with Google to find accidents at various automakers, e.g.
Nissan employee injured at Smyrna plant
Injury at Toyota plant avoidable, suit alleges
West Virginia Record Worker dies from extreme heat at Georgia auto parts plant
etc.

Yes, all three examples occured at suppliers, not the actual car companies themselves, which is why they were not in my search. The available search criteria on the OSHA site does not lend itself well to doing better searches.

Since Tesla is so vertically integrated, they are probably also more exposed.

 

[Doug_G]

Yes, all three examples occured at suppliers, not the actual car companies themselves, which is why they were not in my search. The available search criteria on the OSHA site does not lend itself well to doing better searches.

Since Tesla is so vertically integrated, they are probably also more exposed.

My thoughts exactly. How many automakers do their own castings in-house? Probably a lot of the industrial accidents are happening at their suppliers, where some of the more "risky" processes are done. But that doesn't necessarily free them from all responsibility.

There are many thousands of industrial accidents across the country every year. There were 329 fatalities at manufacturing companies in the USA in 2010. Why single out one company in the media?