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Musk Will Go on the Production Line and Perform Tasks That Provoked Injuries

Tesla has come under fire lately for not having the industry's best safety records as far as its workers are concerned. Actually, they are by far the worst in the U.S. of A., according to WorkSafe.
Musk and Leonardo DiCaprio 5 photos
Photo: YouTube screenshot
Tesla Freemont plantTesla Freemont plantTesla Freemont plantTesla Freemont plant
In 2015, Tesla's Fremont plant was said to have generated injury rates that were 31 percent higher than the industry average, with almost double the number of serious injuries. Since the report came out, some voices have questioned its soundness while Tesla restated the fact that it plans "to have as close to zero injuries as humanly possible and to become the safest factory in the auto industry."

Of course, the health and physical integrity of the company's employees is a very touchy subject, so the CEO couldn't afford to just shove everything under the rug and hope the storm would pass on its own. Not when there's already some unrest regarding the unionization of the Fremont workers.

Departing from his preferred communications channel, Twitter, Elon Musk wrote an email to all of the company's employees, reassuring them about how seriously work safety is taken at Tesla. He wrote: “No words can express how much I care about your safety and wellbeing. It breaks my heart when someone is injured building cars and trying their best to make Tesla successful.

Going forward, I’ve asked that every injury be reported directly to me, without exception. I’m meeting with the safety team every week and would like to meet every injured person as soon as they are well, so that I can understand from them exactly what we need to do to make it better. I will then go down to the production line and perform the same task that they perform.

This is what all managers at Tesla should do as a matter of course. At Tesla, we lead from the front line, not from some safe and comfortable ivory tower. Managers must always put their team’s safety above their own
.” (via Electrek)

Nobody in their right mind would expect Musk to actually go through with it. It's not that he's not capable of a stunt like this, but he simply lacks the time. With the Model 3 just around the corner, things picking up for the Boring Company and SpaceX always requiring some of his attention, you do question when he even finds the time to sleep.

Besides, showing up on the production line and lifting something a few times isn't sufficient. Most injuries were provoked by the repetition of a certain movement over the course of days, if not weeks. That part is obviously nothing more than a PR flick, albeit a well written one. Much like the one he sent to Grohmann Engineering employees after Tesla acquired the German company:

Everyone will have equal access to parking, eating the same tables, and there will be no management offices. I am convinced that managers should work at the forefront, in the same work environment as the entire team. Even though I run the company myself, I still do not have my own office and often moved my workplace to the most challenging area in the factory and slept on the factory floor when there was a real crisis. Managers should always take care of their team before they take care of themselves – the supervisor is there to serve his team – not the other way round.”

At least that sorts out the sleeping enigma.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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