According to a media report, a striking number of work accidents occur in the factory of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide. Since opening, 26 environmental incidents have also been reported.
A year and a half ago, the US car company Tesla opened its factory in Grünheide near Berlin. Accidents at work have not been uncommon since then – at least that’s what the magazine “Stern” reports, citing previously unknown documents from authorities and emergency services.
“Accidents almost every day” at Tesla in Grünheide
According to a file note from the State Office for Occupational Safety, “accidents occurred almost daily on the factory premises over a long period of time.” According to research, Tesla is said to have reported at least 190 reportable accidents between June and November 2022 alone. In Germany, all work accidents must be reported.
According to “Stern”, documents from the rescue centers also documented that Tesla boss Elon Musk’s factory requested an ambulance or helicopter 247 times in the first year after opening alone. For comparison: Converted to the number of employees, this is three times as many emergencies – in a similar period of time – as occurred, for example, at the Audi factory in Ingolstadt.
Burns and amputated limbs
The rescue reports showed, among other things, that a wooden box weighing 50 kilograms fell on an employee’s head from a height of several meters. Another employee broke into a dosing oven with red-hot aluminum with his foot. The injuries listed by the rescuers also included amputated limbs and injuries caused by burns or hydrochloric acid.
The district manager of IG Metall for Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony, Dirk Schulze, told “Stern”: “This frequency of work accidents is not normal.” Rather, it is several times what is usual in other automobile companies. “My biggest concern is that someone will die at some point.”
So far 26 environmental incidents in Grünheide
There have also been several environmental incidents since the factory opened a year and a half ago. Tesla has since reported 26 environmental accidents. This emerges from information from the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment, which “Stern” reports on and which is also available to the dpa news agency. These include spilled substances such as paint, diesel and fires. Part of the site lies in the water protection area.
Specifically, the accidents included leaks of 15,000 liters of paint, 13 tons of aluminum and 50 and 150 liters of diesel. The paint incident in April 2022 was already known. According to information from the State Environment Agency, paint and aluminum were disposed of professionally or properly.
Danger to drinking water?
The “Stern” also reported that after a fire in September 2020, up to 300 liters of extinguishing water seeped into the ground; 250 liters of diesel leaked in a gas station on site in May 2023. The State Environment Agency did not provide any information on this.
The head of ecosystems at the Leibniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Martin Pusch, spoke of a fundamentally high risk with regard to drinking water. “There is a high risk of impairment of the drinking water supply due to the low retention capacity of the subsoil,” Pusch told dpa. Tesla has dismissed concerns.