In a report by Reuters, the publication uncovered SpaceX‘s continued high injury rates have yet to come down from years prior. For some locations, SpaceX is over nine times higher than the industry average.
SpaceX still has high injury rates
SpaceX submitted its most complete injury report to OSHA in 2023, compassing eight of its sites around the country. These include both physical buildings like its headquarters in Hawthorne, Starbase, and Cape Canaveral but also non-physical locations like recovery operations on both coasts.
The industry average of workplace injuries according to OSHA is 0.8 injuries per 100 workers. SpaceX at its best facility, averaged 1.5 per 100 workers. This was reported by SpaceX for its Redmond facility, where the company manufactures its Starlink satellites for launch out of Vandenberg and Cape Canaveral.
In February SpaceX was fined by Washington’s Department of Labor after a “near amputation” took place at the Redmond facility. The investigation found that SpaceX failed at providing a safe enough environment for the work that was being done there. And that was at the low end of the list.
On the high end was a market unique to SpaceX, rocket recovery. SpaceX’s West Coast recovery team had a rate over nine times higher than the industry average, 7.6 for every 100 workers. In contrary, its East Coast counterparts reported an injury rate of 3.5 for every 100 workers.
These numbers are self reported by SpaceX to OSHA, which the agency released to the public a few weeks ago. Unlike previous years, SpaceX reported injury data for almost all of its facilities, including Starbase, McGregor, and Cape Canaveral, none of which are below the industry average.
It’s newest facility, another Starlink factory in Bastrop County, Texas, which opened up a little over six months ago, already has a rate of 2.5 injuries for 100 workers.
| SpaceX Facility | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brownsville (Starbase) | – | 4.8 | 5.9 |
| Cape Canaveral | 2.9 | 0.9 | 2.5 |
| Hawthorne | 1.2 | 1.8 | 1.7 |
| Rocket Recovery, East Coast | – | – | 3.5 |
| Rocket Recovery, West Coast | – | – | 7.6 |
| Bastrop | – | – | 2.5 |
| McGregor | 2.4 | 2.7 | 1.7 |
| Redmond | – | 0.8 | 1.5 |
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SpaceX’s long history with workplace injuries
This is not the first time SpaceX has had negative light shown on it for its workplace injury record. Another Reuter investigation last year found 600 unreported injuries.
For the past two decades, Elon Musk has been pushing SpaceX hard to do the impossible. Which it has been able to do but as you can see, it seems to be at a great risk to its employees well being. In 2014, a SpaceX employee was killed after falling off a stack of insulation he was attempting to hold down during transport on a trailer because they didn’t have the appropriate straps.
Another injury sustained during a test of a Raptor V2 engine back in January 2022 put the employee into a coma, which they are still in. As of last year’s Reuter’s report, the family of that employee was still waiting on a response from SpaceX with answers.
