Insight Junction

By Kieran Kearey 05/10/2025 6 min read

Welcome to business breakdown episode three. This series is a longer version of my Instagram series “Business Breakdown In 60 Seconds”, where I provide information about a business, such as who their current CEO is, who founded the company, controversial news or general facts about the business, etc. But here on the blog, I will dive just a little bit deeper into each business.

As the title says, episode three is about Tesla.

*This information is purely an objective view based on information taken from internet research*

Table Of Contents –

*Click on each heading to go to that section*

• What is Tesla?
• Current CEO
• Child Labour in DRC
• Mishandling of hazardous waste
• Violation of labour rights
• Safety concerns at the company
• Sources
  

What is Tesla?

Tesla is an American company that designs, manufactures and sells electric vehicles like the “Tesla”. They are also known for energy generation, solar panels and battery storage. Tesla (originally Tesla Motors), was founded by both Martin Eberhard and Marc Tarpenning in 2003.

Current CEO

Tesla’s current CEO is Elon Must, who joined the company in 2004 as an investor and then shortly became Chairman of the board. In 2007, Musk demoted the CEO at the time and appointed an interim CEO. The year after, Musk succeeded the interim CEO and so became the CEO of Tesla himself.

Forced Child Labour in the DRC

The first fact about Tesla and perhaps one of the more widely known facts of the list, is that a company in Tesla’s supply chain called “Glencore” was reported to have forced children as young as six years old to dig cobalt in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Freedom United)

According to Freedom United, survivor testimonies showed that workers were often controlled by “debt or threat”, and these survivors were also reportedly forced to dig for cobalt in narrow hand-dug tunnels with no safety gear.

Freedom United also suggested that In 2019, survivors filed a lawsuit against Tesla and other companies, but in 2023 the case(s) was dismissed because the court ruled that Tesla couldn’t be legally responsible for the actions of its suppliers. Despite this, its suggested that Tesla knew about what was happening because “Tesla refuses to publicly disclose its full list of suppliers or allow independent audits of its cobalt supply chain”.

Mishandling of hazardous waste

According to The Guardian, in 2024, Tesla was sued by a group of 25 California counties. These counties accused Tesla of labelling their waste improperly and then sending these materials to landfill sites that cannot accept hazardous material.

According to the counties, the following waste was produced or handled by the Tesla facilities: Paint materials, brake fluids, used batteries, antifreeze and diesel fuel. The lawsuit claimed that the hazardous waste violations occurred at as many as “101 facilities”.

Violation of labour rights

According to Reuters, Tesla was accused of silencing their employees in 2021 after they had complained about new hires being paid more than them. Additionally, the supervisors at this specific facility told their 25 employees to not discuss their pay or working conditions, and were also told not to file any complains with higher level managers. Supposedly, one technician who complained was fired.

Safety concerns at the company

One place of concern at Tesla is their gigafactory in Texas, according to The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Despite its praise, this location has had “serious human rights issues” which have emerged.

Specifically, “four employees had been exposed to dangerous chemicals without the appropriate training or safety precautions” in 2024. Additionally, it was reported that a worker died inside the factory in August 2024 but the incident specifics were unknown at the time. Furthermore, another issue within the factory is that workers are reported to be working with a hazardous material (without the necessary training to handle such material) named “Hexavalent chromium” which can cause cancer, respiratory issues and damage to kidneys. The UAB says that Tesla has been criticised numerous times in several locations, suggesting that the events in this gigafactory are not isolates, but are systemic.

In other parts of this factory, workers were said to have been exposed to excessive temperatures (as high as 100 degrees Fahrenheit, which is just over 37 degrees Celsius), chemical fume exposure and insufficient ventilation.

In another post by The Austin Chronicle, it was reported that Tesla falsified OSHA certificates according to the words of a Tesla worker. That same worker supposedly had an interview The Guardian that revealed the worker had worked on the Tesla gigafactory at night on top of smoke-blowing turbines with no mask and with no lighting, furthering the point of safety issues.

Finally, The AFL-CIO wrote a report outlining several OSHA violations and open cases with Tesla. According to the document, the open cases are the following:

“OSHA Opened an Inspection Emphasizing Potential Lapses in Fall Protections at a
Tesla Facility in Maryland. [OSHA, 1/16/25]

OSHA Fined Tesla’s Assembly Plant in Fremont, California, After a Worker Was
Seriously Injured When a Tesla Vehicle Pinned Her in a Car on a Conveyor Belt.
[The Orange County Register, 12/8/23]

A Contracted Licensed Electrician Died on the Job While Working at Tesla’s
Gigafactory in Austin, Texas; OSHA Fined Tesla $49,650 in Penalties.
[KVUE ABC, 8/8/24; OSHA, 8/1/24]

Tesla Did Not Report That a Worker Died from Extreme Heat While Building
Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin, Texas.
[Texas Observer, 5/8/23]

Cal-OSHA Fined Tesla $89,000 for a Workplace Incident That Injured and Burned
Three Workers.
[East Bay Times, 7/19/16]

OSHA Fined Tesla $37,685 After a Worker’s Finger Was Amputated While Handling
Clamping Fixtures.
[OSHA, 2/4/21]

OSHA Fined Tesla’s Fremont Facility $8,850 After a Worker’s Foot was Struck by a
Powered Industrial Truck.
[OSHA, 8/21/20]

OSHA Fined Tesla Nearly $7,000 for Exposing Four Workers at Austin Gigafactory
to Hexavalent Chromium.
[Business & Human Rights Resource
Centre, 11/27/24]

OSHA Fined Tesla $7,650 After a Worker Fell from a Solar Panel Installation,
Suffering a Fractured Lower Back.
[OSHA, 10/19/20]

OSHA Fined Tesla $13,500 for Serious Heat Violations at Its Fremont, California,
Facility. [OSHA, 7/9/24]

OSHA Fined Tesla $20,000 for Lack of Head Protections and Exposure to Falls at
Facility in Western Springs, Illinois.
[OSHA, 3/30/23]

OSHA Fined Tesla $36920 for Failing to Report a Workplace Fatality or Injury
Within the Required Time Frame. Tesla Is Contesting the Citation.
[OSHA, 5/23/22]

OSHA Fined Tesla After a Worker Fell 8 Feet and Incurred a Collapsed Lung and
Rib Fractures.
[OSHA, 3/2/20]

OSHA Fined Tesla $8,000 for a Serious Violation of Exposing a Worker to a
Potential Crushing Hazard While Operating a Forklift.
[OSHA, 8/25/22]

OSHA Fined Tesla $2,550 After a Worker Fell from a Ladder and Suffered a Skull
Fracture, Orbital Fracture and Nasal Cavity Fractures.
[OSHA, 6/3/20]

A Tesla Engineer Was Left with an Open Wound After an Assembly Robot
Immobilized Him.
[Independent, 12/28/23]

OSHA Fined Tesla $36,000 After a Worker’s Fingertip Was Amputated.
[OSHA, 3/9/21]

During the COVID-19 Pandemic, Musk Reinstated Plant Operations amid Stay-atHome Orders, Which Spurred Hundreds of COVID-19 Cases.
[The Washington Post, 3/12/21]

Cal/OSHA Cited and Fined Tesla for Omitting Hundreds of Injuries in Data Due to
Government Regulators.
[LA Times, 3/6/20]

Sources

https://www.freedomunited.org/advocate/tesla-forced-child-labor/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/jan/31/california-tesla-lawsuit-hazardous-waste
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/tesla-broke-us-labor-law-by-silencing-workers-official-rules-2023-04-26/
https://sites.uab.edu/humanrights/2025/03/30/human-rights-concerns-at-teslas-texas-gigafactory/
https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/tesla-gigafactory-to-be-investigated-for-labor-standards-violations-12833977/
https://aflcio.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/Memo%20on%20Elon%20Musk%20OSHA%20cases_.pdf