1) Is this a lot compared to other similar operations? The article compares the injury rates to other missile manufacturers. Which SpaceX is, but most missile manufacturers don't also build large-scale facilities like assembly buildings and launch towers. If you look at Brownsville, which is where the highest rates of injury occur, you're talking a full blown heavy industry / construction / manufacturing operation.Reuters documented at least 600 previously unreported workplace injuries at Musk’s rocket company: crushed limbs, amputations, electrocutions, head and eye wounds and one death.
https://www.bls.gov/iif/nonfatal-injuri ... tional.htm
^Examples of industries with rates of injury comparable to Brownsville include "other metal container manufacturing" "truck trailer manufacturing" and "construction machinery manufacturing".
2) This is good example of what we were talking about before in this thread i.e. punishing bad actions as regulatory infractions instead of injurious torts....The employee, whose name was redacted in the inspection report the agency gave Reuters, required long-term treatment after surgery, including the partial amputation of the worker’s ring finger, according to the report. The agency faulted the company for failing to ensure employees tested whether the crane could lift the load. SpaceX appealed the resulting $43,506 fine and got it knocked down to $8,701 after agreeing to remedy the worker-safety problems identified in the report.
3) I can see this being true.“Elon’s concept that SpaceX is on this mission to go to Mars as fast as possible and save humanity permeates every part of the company,” said Tom Moline, a former SpaceX senior avionics engineer who was among a group of employees fired after raising workplace complaints. “The company justifies casting aside anything that could stand in the way of accomplishing that goal, including worker safety.”
