Employee accidents at SpaceX soar in Elon Musk’s rush to Mars, Reuters studies : NPR

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

On Friday, SpaceX is ready to launch the second take a look at flight of essentially the most highly effective rocket ever constructed. It is referred to as Starship, and it is a part of a plan to place people on Mars, in the end, and to assist NASA return people to the moon for the primary time in half a century.

These are formidable plans, however staff on the firm owned by Elon Musk face work situations which might be much more harmful than elsewhere within the business. That’s in accordance with an investigation by Reuters reporter Marisa Taylor, who’s with us now in our studios right here in Washington, D.C. Good morning.

MARISA TAYLOR: Good morning.

MARTIN: So how a lot riskier is it to work at SpaceX than different firms in the identical enterprise?

TAYLOR: Properly, in our investigation, we checked out employee security, harm charges and in contrast it to the remainder of the business. And we discovered that at sure services, it was a lot greater. Brownsville, for instance, the place they’re launching there tomorrow, it is anticipated, is six occasions greater than the common.

MARTIN: Are there any specific tales or instances that stood out to you in your reporting?

TAYLOR: We discovered that many staff have been experiencing accidents. We documented 600 accidents from 2014. And we discovered lots of them have been very critical. One in all them – a employee was hit by a part that malfunctioned and hit him within the head, and he’s nonetheless within the coma proper now to this present day.

MARTIN: Oh, my goodness (ph). So what are the components that contribute to those excessive harm charges, particularly if you evaluate them to different folks in the identical discipline? Clearly, it is a very particular line of labor, however why?

TAYLOR: What is going on on is that at this level, they’re doing numerous manufacturing work. It is a way more industrial work than has ever really been executed on this non-public business now. They usually’re doing issues like pushing to fabricate rockets quicker and cheaper. And because of this, staff instructed us that this – these deadlines, this push and rush has precipitated many pointless accidents.

MARTIN: You realize, one of many issues that stood out to me in your report was that, for years, SpaceX didn’t report harm numbers to OSHA – that’s the federal company that’s tasked with monitoring employee security – however they’re required to take action. So how have been they in a position to get away with not reporting?

TAYLOR: It is a good query. We really requested OSHA, which is the company in control of employee security, instantly about this, and they didn’t reply to our questions. It’s one thing that was required starting in 2016. And for a few years, they disregarded it. And in the long run, after they started to begin reporting their accidents to OSHA as required, certainly, they discovered that the harm charges have been a lot greater.

MARTIN: How has SpaceX responded to your findings, if in any respect?

TAYLOR: We have put our questions and described our findings to SpaceX, they usually by no means responded.

MARTIN: By no means?

TAYLOR: By no means.

MARTIN: And what about any elected officers or individuals who signify these staff who’re – who, you recognize, presumably are constituents of anyone? Have they taken discover of this?

TAYLOR: Up to now we have not heard from any elected officers.

MARTIN: That’s Reuters investigative reporter Marisa Taylor. Marisa, thanks a lot for sharing this reporting with us.

TAYLOR: Thanks very a lot.

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