Worker injuries, 911 calls, housing crisis: Recruiting Tesla exacts a price

[Ohiogal]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/worker-injuries-911-calls-housing-110028154.html

From straining local emergency responders, to exacerbating the region’s critical housing shortage and taxing area roads, Tesla has brought a host of complications to the region. State and local governments were ill-prepared for those consequences and, because of the tax abatements, had limited financial resources to address them, according to a months-long examination by USA TODAY’s investigative podcast, The City.

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It all began in 2014, when Nevada won a fierce competition among states for Tesla’s ambitious battery factory project.

Tesla had promised states it would construct a factory bigger than any building in the world, employ thousands of people and generate at least $5 billion in capital investment. To score the project, local officials promised lightning fast construction permits and state lawmakers rushed through the largest tax abatement package in state history, worth $1.3 billion.

Inside, the factory is overwhelming to the senses: giant robot arms swing through the air, driverless forklifts hum and honk around the work sites, workers rush to their stations to keep up with demanding goals.

The building is so cavernous that even the tour guides got lost showing reporters around. Tesla’s vice president for operations, Chris Lister said he puts in more than 10,000 steps a day. A bathroom break can require a 20-minute round trip trek.

The factory is also the source of a flood of 911 emergency calls. In 2018, someone called 911 from the Gigafactory more than once a day, on average, for things like fights, suicide attempts, DUIs, thefts and drug overdoses.

Even OSHA doesn’t have a complete inventory of workplace injuries. Dillon’s injury, for example, was never reported to the agency, even though he suffered an amputation and was hospitalized. State and federal law requires a report for all amputations and injuries that require hospitalization.

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