In a bizarre and unsettling incident at Tesla's Giga Texas factory, a malfunctioning robot violently assaulted an engineer. This chilling scene, witnessed by two horrified colleagues, unfolded as the unsuspecting worker was besieged by the machine, originally programmed to handle aluminum car parts.
The harrowing details, as reported by Mail Online, paint a gruesome picture. The robot, while the engineer was busy fixing software for other malfunctioning Tesla robots, suddenly turned hostile. It clamped its metallic claws into the engineer’s back and arm, leaving behind a macabre trail of blood across the factory floor.
This alarming event, which resulted in a serious hand injury for the victim, was disclosed in a 2021 injury report submitted to Travis County and federal authorities, as per the investigation by DailyMail.
Amidst growing concerns about the safety of automated machinery in workplaces, this incident is not an isolated one. Reports of injuries involving robotic colleagues at Amazon shipping centers, malfunctions in robotic surgeons, accidents involving autonomous vehicles, and even aggressive robotic chess tutors are causing many to question the seamless integration of such technologies.
Despite the severity of the incident, Tesla's injury report, a requirement for maintaining their tax incentives in Texas, indicated that the engineer did not take time off work. However, a lawyer representing Tesla's Giga Texas contract workers, in a statement to DailyMail.com, suggested a different reality. She believes that many injuries, including the tragic death of a construction worker during the factory's construction, are being underreported.
This claim of underreporting is further supported by the attorney, Hannah Alexander of the Workers Defense Project. She cautioned against taking the report at face value, sharing insights about the unreported injuries and death of workers, which Tesla is legally obligated to report for tax benefit purposes.
The construction worker in question, Antelmo Ramírez, succumbed to heatstroke while working on the vast Tesla factory, as confirmed by a report from the Travis County medical examiner.
Last year, the Workers Defense Project brought these alarming issues to light by filing a complaint with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). They accused Tesla's contractors of providing workers with fraudulent safety training, often just sending PDFs or certificate images via text or WhatsApp, without any real training. As Hannah Alexander told KXAN, this shortcut approach to safety training is inconceivable and inadequate.
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