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A new report alleges that Tesla has repeatedly mislabeled and under-counted worker injuries making its safety record appear better than it actually is.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently said, "Excessive automation at Tesla was a mistake. To be precise, my mistake. Humans are underrated."
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Tesla is under pressure to ramp up the production and delivery of its Model 3 electric sedan, its latest EV line.
A new report by RevealNews.org says that electric vehicle maker Tesla failed to record workers' serious injuries accurately. Mislabeling and under-counting injuries made Tesla's safety record look better than it actually was, the report concludes .
Sources told Reveal that safety compromises were made to appease CEO Elon Musk's aesthetic preferences at Tesla's Fremont, Calif. factory. The company employs thousands of workers in Fremont, where its Model S, Model X and Model 3 cars are made. They said that because Musk didn't like the color yellow, the factory floor did not have clearly marked pedestrian lanes, and instead had lanes painted different shades of gray.
At Tesla, Reveal found, "Company officials labeled toxic exposures, muscle strains and repetitive stress injuries as personal medical issues or minor accidents requiring only first aid, lowering its official injury count."
Journalists Will Evans and Alyssa Jeong Perry spent months requesting and evaluating OSHA, worker's comp, fire and 911 call records, as part of their Tesla investigation. They also interviewed three-dozen current and former Fremont factory workers, and obtained internal Tesla records from sources.
CNBC asked Evans what he hopes the report will accomplish. He said, "We wanted to identify the problems, and obviously hope that by doing so, they get fixed. Tesla should label and count all their injuries accurately, as required by law. And they should fix the Fremont factory issues raised by their own former safety experts who we interviewed."
Tesla disputed each of Reveal's findings in the report. Tesla Chief People Officer Gaby Toledano, and Tesla Vice President for Environment, Health and Safety, Laurie Shelby, gave interviews to Reveal suggesting that any past safety problems at Tesla have been resolved through a mix of employee training programs and process improvements. Shelby said she was confident the company was accurate in its reporting of worker injuries.
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