Injuries at Space◣ exceed industry average for second year
Injury rates at Space◣ facilities continued to exceed an industry average in 2023, according to a review of safety data reported to U.S. regulators by the space venture controlled by billionaire Elon Musk.
The 2023 records, newly disclosed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), also show that injury rates at some Space◣ facilities grew worse than those the company had reported in 2022.
At its manufacturing-and-launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, for instance, Space◣ reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, surpassing its rate of 4.8 injuries in 2022 and topping a space industry average of 0.8.
The company’s high injury rate last year was the subject of an investigation that found at least 600 previously unreported worker injuries at the rocket and satellite company. Those injuries, Reuters reported, led to crushed limbs, amputations, serious head injuries, and one death.
Space◣ didn’t respond to requests seeking comment on the latest gures.
Safety experts say the high injury rates should be of concern for Space◣ clients, including the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. The federal space program has increasingly relied on Space◣ in recent years and as of 2022 had paid the company at least $11.8 billion (₹98,300 crore) for various contracts.
“NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work,” said David Michaels,
An investigation found at least 600 previously unreported injuries at the company. Those injuries led to crushed limbs, amputations, serious head injuries, and one death
a former OSHA administrator who is now a professor at The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. High injury rates, he added, can be “an indicator of poor production quality.”
A NASA spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for comment. OSHA also didn’t respond to questions about Space◣’s injury rate.
Reuters calculated the latest injury rates using data published by OSHA last week. The data for 2023 is the most complete yet provided by Space◣, which reported injuries from eight major facilities, three more than it had in 2022.
In years prior, Space◣ hadn’t reported any data for most of its sites, which include manufacturing, launch, and other facilities.
At a unit that retrieves rocket boosters in the Pacic Ocean, Space◣ last year reported 7.6 injuries per 100 workers, more than nine-times the industry rate.
Neither the company nor Mr. Musk, its billionaire founder and chief executive, have publicly addressed Space◣’s safety record in detail.
Gwynne Shotwell, Space◣’s chief operating ocer, in March reposted a video on social media of emergency chutes being tested at a company site in Florida. Commenting on the video on ◣, the social media company that’s also controlled by Mr. Musk, she wrote that “astronaut and personnel safety is Space◣’s highest priority.”