California’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit Tesla factories in the Golden State with a workplace safety investigation the same day that CEO Elon Musk released a memo stating that he planned to make his assembly line operational 24 hours a day.
USAToday reports that the probe is investigating claims of underreported injuries and illness on the job.
Cal/OSHA spokesman Erika Monterroza released a statement saying that it “takes seriously reports of workplace hazards and allegations of employers’ underreporting recordable work-related injuries and illnesses.”
They added that they were examining the Tesla workplace logs “to ensure that serious injuries are reported directly to Cal/OSHA within eight hours as required by law.”
The investigation was kicked off by an article appearing in the media outlet Reveal, which claims that Tesla “failed to report some of its serious injuries on legally mandated reports, making the company’s injury numbers look better than they actually are.”
Tesla fired back in a statement on their website, which says in part, “We welcome constructive criticism, but those who care about journalistic integrity should strive for the truth above all. Unfortunately, the writers at Reveal have published an article that paints a completely false picture of Tesla and what it is actually like to work here. In our view, what they portray as investigative journalism is in fact an ideologically motivated attack by an extremist organization working directly with union supporters to create a calculated disinformation campaign against Tesla.”
This comes on the heels of a released memo by Musk stating, “As part of the drive toward 6k, all Model 3 production in Fremont will move to 24/7 operations.”