Electric car manufacturer Tesla has been accused of underreporting safety issues in the workplace, including known hazards to employee health and wellness. The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) is now carrying out an investigation to look into the claims.
The problems allegedly took place at the factory in Fremont. Reports claim that Tesla “deliberately” hid safety issues.
Before the OSHA investigation began, a website called Reveal released a report containing the allegations. Reveal is owned by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
The report claims that employees themselves said that hazards were not reported as often as they should have been, potentially putting employees in danger by making the workplace appear safer than it actually was. However, the employees who made those claims were not specifically named in the report.
It is also worth noting that Tesla has denied the allegations at every turn. In fact, the company said that the report was “an ideologically motivated attack.” They said that an extremist organization was behind the reports, and they blamed unions for releasing the information. The whole thing, referred to as a rumor in some reports, was called a “calculated disinformation campaign.”
It is clear from the denials and the fact that Cal/OSHA is involved that this could be a fairly long process, and it will be interesting to see what comes of it in the end.
After all, workers have a right to safety in the workplace. Companies cannot take that away from them, either through negligence or deliberate action. It is important for those who get hurt on the job to know all of their legal rights.
Source: Electrive, “Tesla being reviewed on work safety,” Chris Randall, April 19, 2018