OSHA investigating worker death at Tesla's Texas Gigafactory

The OSHA investigation is required to finish in six months.

Editor’s Note: The above video shows KXAN News’ top morning headlines from Monday, Aug. 5, 2024.

TRAVIS COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) — A federal agency is investigating the death of a person last week at the Tesla Gigafactory.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration confirmed the agency is investigating an incident where a worker died.

The Travis County Sheriff's Office and Austin-Travis County EMS responded to the Tesla factory around 8:30 a.m. Aug. 1. The call type was changed to deceased person, the sheriff's office confirmed.

No other investigation information was shared, but the OSHA investigation is required to finish in six months.

Tesla has not responded to a KXAN statement request.

Prior investigations

According to OSHA data, there have been two other inspections at Tesla Giga Texas. One was opened in November 2022, and it was closed in December 2022. The second was filed July 5 and remains open.

In November 2022, a group of workers filed two cases with the U.S. Labor Department about worker pay and training.

Workplace deaths in Texas

In 2022, there were 578 fatal workplace injuries in Texas — an 8% increase from 2021 and a 19% increase from 2020, according to the most recent report from the Texas Department of Insurance.

The transportation and warehousing industry had the most deaths in 2022 with 184, which made up 22% of all fatal workplace injuries in Texas. This was followed by the construction industry with 141 deaths and the natural resources and mining industry with 61 deaths, per the report.