New Jersey Tesla owners may be concerned to learn that the automaker’s California production plant racked up three times more federal workplace safety violations over a five-year period than its top 10 competitors combined. The information was reported by Forbes.
According to the news outlet, Tesla’s Fremont plant employs approximately 15,000 workers and contractors to make its electric vehicles. That is more workers than any other automaker employs in a single U.S.-based facility. It has also translated into significantly more safety violations than have been reported at any other plant. Between 2014 and 2018, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued 54 violations at the Fremont plant. In comparison, the automaker with the second most violations, Nissan, received just five violations at its Tennessee plant over the same period of time.
OSHA fined Tesla a total of $236,730 for its 54 violations. According to OSHA’s national database, 22 of the violations resulted from nine accidents at the Fremont plant, 18 violations resulted from seven complaints at the plant, and eight violations were not linked to a specific complaint. The automaker’s vice-president of Environmental, Health and Safety said that while Tesla has been slapped with the most OSHA injury violations of all automakers, the company’s reportable incidents average is less than 50 percent of the industry average. Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed that the California OSHA branch is the “most stringent labor safety” organization in the United States.
Autoworkers who suffer on-the-job injuries may be eligible to file for workers’ compensation benefits through their employer’s insurance. These benefits are designed to cover an injured autoworker’s medical care costs and provide wage replacement payments while they are unable to work. An attorney may review an autoworker’s case, help prepare the claim and push for the maximum possible benefits payout.