Study Says Tesla Had High Worker Injury Rates

Factory workers at Tesla Inc. averaged 8.8 injuries per 100 employees in 2015 compared with a U.S. auto industry average of 6.7, according to Worksafe Inc., a California.-based pro-union group.

The group’s analysis is based on injury reports to the U.S. Occupational Health and Safety Administration that had been requested by Tesla workers and turned over to Worksafe. The group says Tesla’s injury rate improved to 8.1 last year but remained significantly higher than the U.S. average.

Tesla doesn’t dispute the analysis. “We may have had some challenges in the past,” the company concedes. But it adds, “We now have the lowest injury rate in the industry by far.” The company says its injury rate in the first quarter of 2017 plunged to only 4.6 per 100 workers.

Some employees have been trying since early this year to unionize Tesla, claiming harsh treatment of workers and high injury rates at the carmaker’s assembly plant in Fremont, Calif.

Earlier this week Tesla announced it has hired Gabby Toledano as its new “chief people officer,” effective immediately. She replaces Arnnon Geshuri, who was vice president of human resources. Toledano joints Tesla from California-based video game company Electronic Arts Inc.