Employees of the space company SpaceX have suffered more than 600 work-related injuries over the past nine years due to the desire of its head Elon Musk to fly to Mars. reported in the news agency Reuters.
As part of the investigation, reporters spoke with 30 former and current company employees, finding that many of the injured people suffered serious injuries or disabilities. Thus, more than a hundred people received cuts or lacerations; in 29 cases, workplace incidents resulted in fractures and dislocations, and in another nine cases, injuries to the head. In addition, eight accidents resulted in amputations, and several more people suffered burns.
SpaceX employees, in a conversation with the agency, admitted that such incidents occur due to chaos in the company, which is why insufficiently trained personnel begin to neglect safety rules so as not to violate the deadlines set by Musk. At the same time, SpaceX, as indicated by more than ten former employees, state that employees are responsible for their own safety.
The article drew attention to the fact that Musk himself sometimes neglected safety during visits to SpaceX facilities. Thus, he allegedly “sometimes played with the new flamethrower” and even fired in the direction of other people. It is indicated that workers were also urged to abandon yellow protective clothing due to the billionaire’s dislike of bright colors. The same requirement was put forward for the painting of industrial equipment.
According to disgruntled former and current SpaceX employees, this attitude is due to Musk’s belief in the company’s special mission to create settlements on Mars.
