Above-average number of workplace accidents at Tesla?

Some 18 months after opening, the Tesla plant in Grünheide near Berlin continues to rumble. According to media reports, there has been an above-average number of industrial accidents. Furthermore, more than two dozen environmental incidents have been reported to the authorities. Now the transparency portal "FragDenStaat" has also sued Brandenburg's Minister President Dietmar Woidke. He is said to have withheld explosive documents from the public.

The portal justifies the action, the receipt of which has already been confirmed by the Potsdam Administrative Court, with the fact that a request for information had not been answered by the state government despite several inquiries. The legal basis for the request for disclosure of certain documents is the File Inspection and Information Access Act (AIG). "Ask the State" is primarily interested in minutes of meetings held regularly by representatives of Brandenburg ministries and Tesla managers. The meetings of this so-called "task force" are said to have taken place at least 27 times since November 2019.

Instead of substantive answers, there had only been indications on the part of the Brandenburg State Chancellery that the review of the request for inspection was still ongoing. According to the AIG, requests for file inspection should usually be decided within one month. According to the transparency portal, however, the process has been dragging on since May of this year.

Tesla is also currently going into defense mode on the occupational health and safety front. According to reports from "Stern" and "Tagesspiegel," the number of workplace accidents is about three times higher than at Audi in Ingolstadt, for example. In Germany, occupational accidents must be reported if the accident victim was fatally injured or was unable to work for more than three days. According to "tagesschau.de," a memo from the Brandenburg State Office for Occupational Safety shows "that accidents occurred almost daily on the plant premises over an extended period of time." Between June and November of last year alone, Tesla itself is said to have reported at least 190 reportable accidents.

According to "Stern", this was not all. Documents from emergency services show that Tesla requested an ambulance or rescue helicopter 247 times in the first year after the factory went into operation. The spectrum of serious injuries ranged from amputated limbs to chemical burns caused by dangerous liquids. The IG Metall district leader for Berlin, Brandenburg and Saxony, Dirk Schulze, has been very concerned for some time. The "Tagesspiegel" newspaper quotes him as saying, "Numerous employees report accidents and health hazards to us. In some areas, this leads to sick leave of up to 40 percent." Tesla rejects accusations of a lack of occupational safety.

The factory, which is located in a water protection area, has also been the subject of several investigations by the Brandenburg State Environmental Agency. Environmental accidents on record include spills of 15,000 liters of paint, 13 tons of aluminum, and 50 and 150 liters of diesel. According to information from the state environmental agency, the contaminants had been disposed of professionally or properly. In the case of diesel, the soil had been excavated in one case. Environment Minister Axel Vogel ruled out that the factory was negligently controlled with regard to environmental regulations: "The monitoring works." (aum/afb)