SpaceX Worker Injury Rates Are Alarmingly High for Second Year in a Row

The rate of employee injuries at eight major facilities run by Elon Musk's aerospace company far exceeded the industry average for the second year running--and some facilities worsened year-over-year, according to Reuters. One former administrator with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told Reuters the injuries should concern SpaceX's private and public sector partners, including NASA.

David Michaels, a former OSHA employee and current professor at The George Washington University, told Reuters that injuries can serve as "an indicator of poor production quality" and that "NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work."

According to Reuters calculations that are based on OSHA data, injury rates at all eight facilities that reported data in 2023 outpaced the industry average of 0.8 injuries per 100 workers. The facility with the highest injury rate in 2023 was SpaceX's Rocket Recovery unit on the West Coast, which reported 7.6 injuries per 100 workers in 2023. Next up was SpaceX's Brownsville, Texas-based launch facility, which reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, up from 4.8 the previous year. At SpaceX's Cape Canaveral, Florida facility, the injury rate jumped to 2.5 per 100 workers, up from 0.9 in 2022. Injury rates did decline at two of SpaceX's facilities in Hawthorne, California, and McGregor, Texas, according to the data.

This problem is nothing new for SpaceX. A 2023 Reuters investigation found more than 600 previously unreported injuries at the rocket and satellite company stretching back to 2014. The injuries ranged from strains or sprains to crushed digits and accidents resulting in limb amputations or even death. At the time, employees told Reuters the injuries were reflective of a company culture that prioritized deadlines over employee safety and training.

SpaceX also recently ran afoul of the National Labor Relations Board, which accused the company of including illegal terms in severance agreements, according to CNBC. SpaceX filed a lawsuit in January challenging the constitutionality of the NLRB after a separate complaint accused the company of illegally firing workers who had complained about Musk's online behavior in an open letter.