According to a media report, a striking number of accidents occur at the factory of the US electric car manufacturer Tesla in Grünheide. IG Metall has called on Tesla to make improvements in occupational safety.

One and a half years ago, the US car company Tesla opened its factory in Grünheide near Berlin. Since then, accidents at work have not been uncommon - this is reported by the magazine "Stern" with reference to hitherto unknown documents from authorities and emergency services.

"Almost daily accidents" at Tesla in Grünheide

According to the report, a memo from the State Office for Occupational Safety and Health shows "that accidents happened almost daily on the factory premises over a longer period of time". Between June and November 2022 alone, Tesla itself reported at least 190 reportable accidents, according to the research. In Germany, occupational accidents are reportable if the injured person is fatally injured or incapacitated for work for more than three days.

According to "Stern", documents from the emergency services also document that Tesla CEO Elon Musk's factory requested an ambulance or helicopter 247 times in the first year after opening alone. By way of comparison: converted to the number of employees, this is three times as many emergencies - in a similar period - as occurred, for example, at the Audi plant in Ingolstadt.

Burns and amputated limbs

The rescue reports showed, among other things, that a 50-kilogram wooden box fell on the head of a worker from a height of several metres. Another worker's foot collapsed into a dosing furnace with red-hot aluminium. The injuries listed by rescuers also included amputated limbs and injuries from burns or hydrochloric acid.

IG Metall calls on Tesla to make improvements

IG Metall now called on Tesla to improve occupational health and safety for workers at the plant. "Health comes before profit - that also applies to Tesla in Grünheide," said Dirk Schulze, IG Metall district leader Berlin-Brandenburg-Saxony today. He added that IG Metall had been concerned about occupational safety at the plant for some time.

Numerous workers reported accidents and health problems, leading to sick leave of up to 40 per cent in some areas. Instead of tackling the causes, the management reacts by putting pressure on the sick. Fewer staff are supposed to produce the same number of pieces. "The management obviously does not give priority to the issue of occupational health and safety.

So far 26 environmental incidents in Grünheide

There have also been several environmental incidents since the factory opened a year and a half ago. Tesla has since reported 26 environmental incidents. This is according to information from the Brandenburg State Office for the Environment reported by "Stern" and also available to the news agency dpa. These include spilled substances such as paint, diesel and fires. Part of the site is located in a water protection area.

Specifically, the spills included 15,000 litres of paint, 13 tonnes of aluminium and 50 and 150 litres of diesel. The paint incident in April 2022 was already known. According to information from the State Environmental Agency, the paint and aluminium were disposed of professionally or properly.

Danger to drinking water?

Stern" also reported that up to 300 litres of extinguishing water had seeped into the ground after a fire in September 2020; 250 litres of diesel had leaked from a petrol station on the site in May 2023. The State Environmental Agency did not provide any information on this.

The head of ecosystems at the Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Martin Pusch, spoke of a fundamentally high risk with regard to drinking water. "There is a high risk of drinking water supply being affected due to the low retention capacity of the subsoil," Pusch told dpa. Tesla has dismissed concerns.