Elon Musk celebrated the opening of Tesla's factory on the outskirts of Berlin with much fanfare. However, the reality inside the Gigafactory Berlin, which opened its doors in March 2022, is not as celebratory as it seems.
The factory has been the site of numerous accidents. While Tesla faces accusations of racism in the United States, its German factory conceals a series of unfortunate incidents.
German magazine Der Spiegel, citing Stern Magazine, reveals a previously unknown high number of workplace accidents at the Gigafactory.
In the first year since its opening, emergency medical services were called to the factory 247 times. This number is three times higher than the accidents recorded at Audi during the same period.
Stern also unveils grim details about the accidents at Tesla's facility. For instance, a worker was reportedly injured by a 50-kilogram crate falling on him. Another suffered burns due to a spill of sulfuric acid. Some accidents were so severe that amputations were necessary.
These incidents have raised alarms among representatives of the German metalworkers' union, IG Metall. "The occurrence of workplace accidents is not normal. My biggest concern is that someone will die at some point," expresses Dirk Schulze, the district manager for IG Metall in Berlin, Brandenburg, and Saxony.
However, authorities are not yet alarmed. With 11,000 employees at Tesla's German factory, the number of accidents does not seem significant enough to cause concern, considering the size of the workforce.
