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SpaceX facilities suffered from worker injury rates that exceeded the industry standard in 2023, according to records from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
Per analysis from Reuters, the injury rates were even worse than in 2022, when data showed injuries per 100 workers also exceeded the average rate from other companies in the space industry.
Records shared by OSHA reveal that at one facility in Brownsville, Texas, the aeronautics company owned by Elon Musk had a rate over seven times higher than that of the space industry average.
The industry average rate in 2023 was 0.8 injuries per 100 workers and has been around this level for several years.
The Brownsville plant, which both manufactures and launches SpaceX rockets, recorded 5.9 injuries per 100 workers in 2023, up from a rate of 4.8 in 2022.
SpaceX’s rocket booster recovery unit for the West Coast recorded a rate over nine times the industry average, with 7.6 injuries per 100 workers.
The injury rate at some SpaceX sites did drop compared to 2022 data, such as its build facility in Hawthorne, California from 1.8 to 1.7, and its testing facility in McGregor, Texas from 2.7 to 2.1.
However, injury rates at other locations increased compared to 2022 data, such as Redmond, Washington where the rate nearly doubled from 0.8 to 1.5, and a SpaceX launch facility in Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the rate nearly tripled from 0.9 to 2.5.
Moreover, at each of these facilities, alongside the rocket booster recovery division for the East Coast (3.5) and a site in Bastrop, Texas (2.5), rates exceeded the industry average for each of the eight units for which it reported injury data, whether figures increased or decreased compared to 2022 or were recorded for the first time.
Safety concerns for SpaceX employees and clients
SpaceX’s 2023 injury records are the most detailed data it has currently provided, including figures from three further facilities compared to 2022.
Before 2022, the company failed to report data for most or all of its sites, despite OSHA requiring requiring employers to report injury data since 2016.
The injury rate data shared over the past two years for 2022 and 2023 have sparked widespread concern about the level of employee safety at SpaceX.
In 2023, a Reuters investigation identified more than 600 further injuries that have gone unreported at SpaceX over recent years, with workers suffering from serious head injuries, crushed limbs, and in one case, death.
SpaceX did not respond to the Reuters report, nor to requests for comment on this year’s findings. Musk nor SpaceX have publicly addressed industry concerns with its employee safety.
During Reuters’ 2022 investigation, it spoke to Tom Moline, a former SpaceX engineer who was fired for raising complaints about its workplace practices.
“Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as fast as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,” he explained. “The company justifies casting aside anything that could stand in the way of accomplishing that goal, including worker safety.”
Experts have also indicated that the number of injuries also affects SpaceX clients such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
"NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work," said David Michaels, a former OSHA administrator stated.
Beyond SpaceX, the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a rise in the number of fatal occupational injuries for US workers. The figures, released in December 2023, relate to the year 2022 where fatal injuries totaled 5,486, a ten-year high in the US.
