[ad_1]
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal-OSHA) opened two new inspections in September on working conditions in Tesla's Fremont plant.
The first was opened on September 4 and was caused by an incident reported to the agency during which a contract employee was found stuck between two bins after a forklift pushed a bins. The incident was reported to regulators on August 30, but the agency did not specify when the incident occurred.
The second was opened on September 5 and came after an incident reported to the agency in which the fingers of a contract worker were stuck in a gun. According to the agency, the incident occurred on August 24 and was reported to regulators on August 31.
There are currently six inspections open in Tesla's Fremont factory and one in his Rocklin store. Inspections do not necessarily lead to financial penalties or findings of wrongdoing.
"Tesla takes security very seriously and is constantly identifying security improvements in our global operations to help us become one of the safest places to work," said a spokesman for Tesla.
[Have a Tesla news tip? DO you work at Tesla and want to share your story? Contact this reporter at [email protected].]
In August, Cal-OSHA proposed $ 1,000 in fines following an inspection in April. According to the quotes sent to Tesla by Cal-OSHA, the agency has proposed a $ 400 fine because of Tesla's inability to report a February injury within seven days and a $ 600 fine for non-compliance with extensions. Tesla spokesman told Business Insider that the agency found only one misplaced cord extension and that it had appealed the $ 400 fine because the injury in question had been reported. correctly. The spokesman gave Business Insider the following statement:
"Cal-OSHA recently conducted a comprehensive four-month survey of OSHA's occupational health management and archiving practices at our Fremont facility, which has more than 15,000 employees, contractors and temporary workers. After this thorough review, Cal-OSHA identified only two minor issues: an extension cord connected to a fan that created a potential trip hazard that we addressed. immediately during the OSHA inspection and a small difference in the date that only one injury occurred, for which we are working with OSHA, because the injury was recorded correctly in our records of 2018. Although We are not perfect, Tesla focuses on accurate reporting, as well as ongoing improvements to our safety program and our injury rate. We care a lot about the well-being of our employees and will continue to work with them until we have the safest factory in the world. "
A spokesman for Cal-OSHA said Tesla told the agency's appeal board that it intended to appeal the fines, but had not yet submitted the necessary documents. .
Tesla spokesman said the company has put in place a new security incident tracking system and encouraged employees to report injury symptoms early and work with sports coaches to identify and correct security incidents. . areas of the production line that can cause repetitive injury.
Tesla employees told Business Insider in an August report that the company had improved its workplace safety, especially over the past year.
In an email sent Sept. 7 to employees posted on the company's website, CEO Elon Musk announced that Laurie Shelby, vice president of the environment, health and safety of the company Company, would report directly to him.
"Your safety and making sure you like to come to work are extremely important, which is why [Shelby] will bring me back directly. We work hard to have the safest (and most fun) work environment in the automotive industry by far, "he said.
Occupational safety concerns have been a controversial issue for Tesla. In February, an article on Shelby's Tesla website indicated that the company's "total registration rate" had dropped 25% since 2016 and was in line with the industry average. Shelby also described Tesla's actions to better manage and prevent workplace injuries.
But a report released in April by the Center for Investigative Reporting indicated that Tesla had misrepresented workplace accidents, avoided certain safety marks for aesthetic reasons, and insufficiently trained some employees in hazardous work. The investigative and journalism service said it had interviewed more than three dozen current and former Tesla employees and reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including internal records and correspondence relating to the reports. injury.
Tesla denied the allegations in the report and called it "a completely false picture of Tesla and what it means to work here."
Learn more about working at Tesla:
Source link
