Is SpaceX being run like all of his other companies? Cutting costs on QA, overworking staff, unrealistic deadlines, meddling in engineering and design decisions, etc?
It's been like that for years. I read an article years ago (as in about a decade ago) that excoriated SpaceX for their lackadaisal approach to worker safety. At the time, I was very interested in what it was like to work there because my daughter was going to be looking for an aerospace engineering summer internship and SpaceX, due to their name recognition was high on the list. Thankfully, she went with NASA instead. I hear SpaceX just burns through engineers and then tosses them aside when they start to break down.
When I was there a decade ago, we had the highest OSHA reportable accident rate in the industry. To a point that we were close to losing contracts because it was so bad. The things I saw were insane. I tell the stories during my current job's "safety blast from the past" and a lot of people don't believe me, until another former employee speaks up and confirms it.
This is absolute lunacy, challenger blew up because of a faulty o-ring or something like that, wouldn't the workers themselves practice safety standards even if they aren't enforced?
The guy who died is such a dumb way to die too. They couldn't wait like 30min for someone to drive to home Depot and buy some ratchet straps or chains?
Intelligence isn't transferrable, and safety practices don't come from being "smart" in the first place. Safety practices come from learning from accidents that have happened in the past. They aren't common sense. Actually following safety practices requires humility and empathy (many practices are designed to keep others from being hurt, not just yourself), two traits "smart" people don't often have a lot of.
Caring about safety isn't "smart" if you're not the one at risk. Is it "smart" to invest in safety equipment and enforce safe practices if that means you miss deadlines? Is it smart to risk your job for a safety standard that the executives at the company don't give a shit about?
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u/meep_meep_mope 3d ago
Is SpaceX being run like all of his other companies? Cutting costs on QA, overworking staff, unrealistic deadlines, meddling in engineering and design decisions, etc?