Tesla Tesla's vehicle assembly plant in Fremont, California.
- Workers at Tesla's auto plant spent twice as many days away from their jobs due to work-related injuries and illnesses, after adjusting for workforce growth, in 2018 than in 2017, Bloomberg reports, citing a report Tesla filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
- While the total number of injuries from Fremont employees increased by around 28%, the rate of injuries per hour worked was about the same as in 2017, according to Bloomberg.
- A Tesla representative told Business Insider that the number of days an employee spends away from work due to injury does not correspond to the injury's severity.
- The representative added that the automaker gives employees the time they need to recover from injuries.
Workers at Tesla's auto plant spent twice as many days away from their jobs due to work-related injuries and illnesses, after adjusting for workforce growth, in 2018 than in 2017, Bloomberg reports, citing a report Tesla filed with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Employees at Tesla's Fremont, California, factory spent 22,454 days away from their jobs due to work-related injuries and illnesses in 2018, compared to 7,619 in 2017. While the total number of injuries from Fremont employees increased by around 28%, the rate of injuries per hour worked was about the same as in 2017, according to Bloomberg.
Tesla's overall injury rate was a little lower than those of its competitors, the automaker told Bloomberg.
A Tesla representative told Business Insider that the number of days an employee spends away from work due to injury does not correspond to the injury's severity. The representative added that the automaker gives employees the time they need to recover from injuries.
Laurie Shelby, Tesla's vice president of environmental health and safety, told Bloomberg that the automaker experienced zero employee fatalities at the Fremont factory in 2017 or 2018 as it increased production of its Model 3 sedan.
"The most important metric is fatalities, and our number is zero," Shelby told Bloomberg. "It was a big ramp year for Model 3, so there were a lot more hours worked, more production staff and more potential for incidents. We really focused on making sure we had our safety team out in the area as we ramped."
Shelby said two-thirds of injuries at Fremont qualified as aggregate trauma caused by repetitive stress to the back, neck, wrists, hands, and shoulders, for example. Tesla told Bloomberg that injured Fremont employees may spend fewer days out of work this year as the automaker introduces initiatives to allow injured workers to return to work in altered roles.
Injury statistics and reports from media outlets have raised questions about worker safety at Tesla's factories, though concerns about workplace safety are not unique to Tesla in the auto industry.
Tesla received more citations from OSHA related to vehicle manufacturing than Ford, General Motors, or Fiat Chrysler from 2017 through the end of 2018. Reports from Reveal published in 2018 claimed that Tesla misreported workplace injuries, avoided using safety markings for aesthetic reasons, and failed to give injured employees proper medical care.
Tesla has denied that it has misreported workplace injuries and failed to use safety markings for aesthetic reasons. The automaker did not respond to requests for comment on the allegation that it failed to give injured employees proper medical treatment.
Read Bloomberg's full report here.
Got a Tesla tip? Contact this reporter at mmatousek@businessinsider.com.
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