Create a free Manufacturing.net account to continue

Musk Tells Tesla Managers To Put Employees' Safety 'Above Their Own'

The Tesla CEO vowed to perform the work of any employee injured on the job.

(AP Photo)
(AP Photo)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently vowed to perform the work of any employee injured on the job after a report was critical of the company's safety record.

"No words can express how much I care about your safety and well-being," Musk wrote in an internal email shared on social media in recent days, according to the Silicon Valley Business Journal.

The report, published by workplace safety nonprofit Worksafe, indicated that both the injury rate and the measure of lost productivity due to injury at Tesla's factories exceeded the auto industry average in 2015 and was likely to do the same in 2016.

Tesla initially defended its safety record, but the Worksafe report questioned "the reliability of the company's recordkeeping."

Musk responded with an email to employees assuring them that, "It breaks my heart when someone is injured building cars and trying their best to make Tesla successful."

The email also directed every injury to be reported to him "without exception," and he vowed to meet with Tesla's safety team and with injured workers personally. He added that he would then "go down to the production line and perform the same task that they perform."

"At Tesla, we lead from the front line, not from some safe and comfortable ivory tower," Musk wrote. "Managers must always put their team's safety above their own."

More in Labor