Report every injury to me; I will do the same task

From:: Elon Musk
Date:: May 31, 2017 (Teslarati reports it was sent on 31 May 2017; Electrek (2 June) said 'this week')
To:: All Tesla employees

Partial text. Only these passages were published; [...] marks a gap.

No words can express how much I care about your safety and wellbeing. It breaks my heart when someone is injured building cars and trying their best to make Tesla successful. Going forward, I've asked that every injury be reported directly to me, without exception. I'm meeting with the safety team every week and would like to meet every injured person as soon as they are well, so that I can understand from them exactly what we need to do to make it better. I will then go down to the production line and perform the same task that they perform. This is what all managers at Tesla should do as a matter of course. At Tesla, we lead from the front line, not from some safe and comfortable ivory tower. Managers must always put their team's safety above their own.

About this email

After reports about injury rates at Fremont, Musk tells employees that every injury must be reported directly to him, that he will meet each injured worker and then perform the same task on the line himself.

Notes

Electrek and Inc. printed these three paragraphs; no greeting, subject or sign-off was published. Teslarati says the email first surfaced as an image on the Model 3 Owners Club Facebook page. Tesla's company-wide email 'Doing the right thing' was sent the same day (31 May 2017), so these paragraphs may be the opening of that email rather than a separate message; this could not be confirmed because the full email is only available as an image.

Where it came from

Leaked to press; attribution widely reported.

Tesla, company-wide memo. Tags: safety, injuries, fremont, leadership

Earlier email Search all emails Later email