People are seen working on a fence at the SpaceX Starbase in Brownsville, Texas, U.S., August 19, 2023. REUTERS/Veronica G. Cardenas./File Photo
The 2023 records, newly disclosed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, also show that injury rates at some SpaceX facilities grew worse than those the company had reported in 2022. At its manufacturing-and-launch facility in Brownsville, Texas, for instance, SpaceX reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers, surpassing its rate of 4.8 injuries in 2022 and topping a space industry average of 0.8.
"NASA should be concerned about the quality of the work," said David Michaels, a former OSHA administrator who is now a professor at The George Washington University. High injury rates, he added, can be"an indicator of poor production quality."OSHA didn't respond to questions about SpaceX's injury rate.
At a unit that retrieves rocket boosters in the Pacific Ocean, SpaceX last year reported 7.6 injuries per 100 workers, more than nine times the industry rate.