At SpaceX, worker injuries soar in Elon Musk's rush to Mars

Not here defending SpaceX, cannot speak for some of the specific cases like the individual who was sitting on top of a truck to hold a load down. What I don&#x27;t like though is the lack of real comparison. It reads more like a hit piece against spacex with all the specific examples of cases that tug at the heart. Would like to see some better comparison, I don&#x27;t know how realistic the space industry average is. How many companies are in the space industry.<p>The BLS total recordable cases for all US report in 2022 (cases involving days away from work and other) is 2.7 per 100. Would have liked the article to dive more into the data details instead of the specific cases. Too easy to focus on specific cases and ignore what the data means. I am not sure if comparing this to other space industry companies is fair. I have no idea who is included but are the engineers on a team included in these worker counts? So my best comparison is the total rate listed by BLS which is 2.7&#x2F;100.

This is a problem with workplace culture and corresponds to equally poor culture in the other companies Musk controls.<p>He&#x27;s moving fast and breaking things, namely people, be it his customers or employees.<p>But no problem: pay a fine, roll out another phalanx of lawyers and there is little real cost. If CEOs were prosecuted for negligent homicide the number of preventable workplace and product deaths would surely drop to zero.

&gt; Other major space companies have also failed to report annual injury data to OSHA in some recent years.<p>This is all about higher than average injury rates at SpaceX, but just tucks this in after comparing the injury rates

I&#x27;ve always thought making people work long hours, repeatedly, would have a negative impact on their health. These injuries are far worse than I expected, but then I was only thinking about a desk job.<p>I love what SpaceX and Tesla are doing, but it&#x27;s difficult to be an Elon fan when people are being seriously hurt because of bad policies.

For the keyboard warriors, defending it and telling people that it&#x27;s individuals fault.<p>Lots of you work in tech, behind the desk. If the system you&#x27;re working on keeps on breaking when others interact with it - is their fault or is the system not advanced enough? If you give all your employees root access to the production, and expect them to use it wisely and care about safety - when it something breaks - is it the fault of the employee or fault of the company for allowing such a reckless actions?

As some who worked there for 4.5 years, this is an accurate description of the work culture at SpaceX. You sacrifice safety for speed. As a young person it’s an opportunity to take on a lot responsibilities, but at that point in your life you don’t have the fortitude to tell Elon, who does push the agenda directly to personnel, to say you do not deem this task safe&#x2F;smart&#x2F;responsible. Gwynn is a sly leader that tries to balance out Elon and non-Elon agendas, but will capitulate to Elon on a regular basis. You definitely do get fired for delaying any Elon focused project, regardless of the reason, if you’re annoying enough or easily replaceable. If you want to go toe to toe with Elon you better be the most productive person, with a good track record, have a rare skill set or knowledge, and be willing to risk your career.

In a lot of US manufacturing plants, this stuff would get you fired. How does SpaceX get to skirt regulations?

Escaping to Mars and taking the source of why earth failed with you sounds like a stupid plan

Musk would have felt right at home driving the Soviet space program !

I&#x27;m still unsure as to why people are blaming Elon when I&#x27;ve been continuously told on this site that Glenn Shotwell is running everything.

A worthy sacrifice for the advancement of humankind

Two of the examples of injuries sustained by workers given in the article sound like a lack of awareness of one’s personal safety was a major contributing factor in the accidents… Specifically, sitting on an unsecured load on a vehicle to hold it down, and being in close proximity to a rocket engine undergoing pressure testing.<p>I’m sure the lack of a culture of safety and availability of equipment bears some of the blame, but some responsibility has to rest with the individual to say “no, I don’t think it’s a good idea to put my head in there”.