U.S. Tesla Factory
Employee Seriously Injured in Robot Attack
“Engineer Pinned Against the Wall”
An incident resembling a plot from a science fiction movie, where robots turn hostile toward humans, has gained significant attention after being reported in international media.
According to the New York Post, a disturbing incident happened in 2021 at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Texas, a prominent U.S. electric car manufacturer Tesla production facility. During this incident, a manufacturing robot unexpectedly attacked a human worker, inflicting severe injuries. At the time of the occurrence, the robot, executing its programmed tasks, forcefully pinned an engineer against the wall and subsequently inflicted wounds by stabbing the individual in the back and arm with its metal claw.
The attacked engineer bled from his injuries, and another worker was able to press the robot’s emergency stop button to prevent further damage. However, the employee who escaped from the robot suffered quite serious injuries, with blood staining the floor.
This particular robot, primarily designed for moving aluminum car parts, should have been powered down during maintenance procedures carried out by human workers. However, for reasons yet unknown, the robot remained operational and tragically caused an accident by assaulting a human worker.
However, this was not an intentional attack by the robot but an accident related to safety checks that occurred as the robot moved according to its programmed actions.
According to injury reports submitted to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), nearly 1,000 out of the total Gigafactory employees (about 20,000 people) have experienced injuries from various accidents, indicating that the frequency of Tesla’s industrial accidents is higher than that of other companies. The data shows that the chance of fatal serious injuries is 1 in 26, significantly higher than the average for major U.S. automobile manufacturers, which is 1 in 38.
Both current and former Tesla employees have collectively voiced that the company is ignoring safety principles.
By. Eun Young Choi
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