Workers at Elon Musk‘s languishing Las Vegas tunnel project have spoken out about unbearable conditions at the underground site dubbed ‘The Plantation’ – as an investigation reveals some have been left permanently scarred.
The 1.7 mile tunnel system first broke ground in 2019 as part of a plan by Musk to alleviate traffic in the seminal city and connect hotels.
But a report by Bloomberg’s Businessweek this week, that includes first-hand accounts, have raised serious concerns about an unsafe working environment.
The outlet obtained a still-ongoing investigation by the Nevada State Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) which describes how crews were forced to tunnel in sweltering conditions for 24-hours a day in 12-hour shifts – and that ’15 to 20 employees’ of Musk’s Boring company had been burned by chemical ‘accelerants’.
‘You’d be like, «Why am I on fire?»‘ one tunnel worker recalled of being forced to wade through mud laced with skin-damaging chemical during a push to finish a section of the barely three-mile, system that’s taken five years to build.
The filing further describes a close call over the summer, where an intern was nearly crushed by concrete blocks that collapsed after brackets holding them gave way.
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Workers for Elon Musk’s languishing Las Vegas tunnel project have described unbearable conditions at the underground worksite
The accounts come months after an anonymous complaint claimed workers were being subjected to unsafe conditions while working on the half-mile section of the Vegas Loop
Speaking on condition of anonymity to Businessweek, the staffer went on to bolster some of the claims contained in the OSHA report.
They all involve the half-mile long Encore tunnel, where workers said they were forced to spend entire 12-hour shifts underground – including lunch breaks – and had to ask permission to use the bathroom.
They also had to be aware of muck falling from a conveyor belt above, as it moved the mix of dirt and accelerants from the front of the dig site back toward the exit.
When the chemical-laden mixture reached the bins outside, the receptacles were kept dangerously full, said employees for the infrastructure company that started as a subsidiary of SpaceX in 2017.
Employees interviewed for the ongoing OSHA investigation also highlighted a shocking case where an intern was nearly crushed to death when a bin collapsed.
Inside the tunnel temperatures regularly soared to well over 100F, employees said – earning the section meant to connect the Encore and Westgate hotels to a planned 70-mile route its unfortunate nickname ‘The Plantation’.
Meanwhile, the only portion of the tunnel in operation is a 1.7-mile section that runs solely during conventions, ferrying attendees in chauffeur-driven Teslas limited to 40 mph between three stations near Las Vegas Boulevard.
Musk’s vision – aired in 2019 after he registered the Space X subsidiary as TBC: The Boring Company – is notably much grander, with a forecast additional 68 miles planned to at some point run underneath Sin City’s seminal strip.
However, five years in, those extensions remain little more than conjecture, as other subterranean tunnels in cities like LA and Chicago previously touted by the Tesla CEO have been called off in their planning stages.
The system currently operates only during conventions, and attendees ride in chauffeured Tesla limited to 40 miles per hour
Those projects – which included a ‘Dugout Loop’ that would have brought residents to Dodger Stadium and a high-speed train that could have connected Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to its downtown – were enough to raise about $800million in funding.
But the Las Vegas one is all that’s materialized, and remains a far cry from the sprawling, citywide system Musk, 52, originally promised.
The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop today can handle up to 4,400 passengers per hour, OSHA’s report and staffers interviewed by Businessweek both stated – well short of the 90,000 passengers per hour forecast at full buildout.
A forecast 81 medium-sized stations have also failed to come to fruition, with only three open to the public during conventions.
OSHA’s report, meanwhile, has already resulted in $112,504 in fines for Musk’s infrastructure arm, which did not provide staffers in the Encore and Westgate tunnels the gear necessary to protect their skin.
‘The employer did not provide instruction on personal protective equipment requirements to employees,’ OSHA’s report stated. Lawyers for The Boring Company said this week that they are contesting the claims.
‘Employees were [also] not instructed in the recognition and avoidance of hazards associated with the underground construction,’ the report added.
Workers who spoke to Businessweek also described how the conditions they were subjected to were particularly dangerous during the spring and summer of 2023, when digging connectors to the Encore and Westgate hotels.
Behind schedule, they say they faced pressure to speed things along – particularly before conference season – and thus had to tunnel for 24 hours a day.
To do this, staffers said they would regularly work 12-hour shifts six or seven days a week – echoing statements already given to Nevada OSHA inspectors.
Musk’s vision – aired in 2019 after he registered the Space X subsidiary as TBC: The Boring Company – forecast an additional 68 miles to run underneath Sin City’s seminal strip
Five years in, those extensions remain little more than conjecture, and other subterranean tunnels in cities like LA and Chicago previously touted by the Tesla CEO have been called off
Those projects – which included a ‘Dugout Loop’ that would have brought residents to Dodger Stadium and a high-speed train that could have connected Chicago’s O’Hare Airport to its downtown – were enough to raise about $800million in funding
But the Las Vegas one is all that’s left, and remains a far cry from the sprawling, citywide system Musk, 52, had promised
The Las Vegas Convention Center Loop today can handle up to 4,400 passengers per hour, OSHA’s report and staffers interviewed by Businessweek both stated – well short of the 90,000 passengers per hour forecast at full buildout
A forecast 81 medium-sized stations has also failed to come to fruition, with only three open to the public during conventions
The 2.4 miles seen today – 0.7 of which is not even open – still serves as well short of the exec’s promises, by more than 65 miles and the fact the cars need drivers to operate them
In addition to the long hours, workers also cited faulty machinery and a lack of personal protective equipment, with a now-ex staffer claiming Boring ‘was trying to do everything on the cheap.’
The complaint – which included eight citations issued to the company, mainly over workers being burned by accelerants in the concrete mix used during tunneling – is being contested by Sacramento-based JacksonLewis, which is representing The Boring Co amid the state agency’s claims.
‘In addition to TBC’s belief that Nevada OSHA has failed to establish that the alleged violations occurred, TBC contests all of the citations’ classifications…. and every other matter subject to contest,’ Dale Kuykendall wrote in a letter to OSHA last year.
The agency, meanwhile, maintains ‘the chemical mixture was inadvertently sprayed onto approximately 10-15 employees soaking through their work clothing, absorbing into the skin resulting in skin irritation, skin rashes, and skin chemical burns.’
The concrete mixture, investigators found, included various substances and chemicals including bentonite, fly ash, R 100 and Portland Cement – a concoction that can seriously burn exposed human skin.
According to OSHA’s probe, at least one employee took a direct hit to the face, as the muddy mixture continued to be pumped at a rate of 12,000 gallons per day.
Photos shared in the filing show the burn-causing brew lining the floors of the tunnels, with investigators writing the tunnels were dug at a level where water was constantly seeping inside and mixing with the dirt and accelerants.
To keep the tunnels from overflowing, workers installed pumps, OSHA noted – but the devices could not keep up with the amount of water when seasonal rains hit over the summer.
This forced workers to to wade through the polluted water, which staffers told Businessweek was often at least two feet deep.
OSHA’s report, meanwhile, has already resulted in $112,504 in fines for Musk’s infrastructure arm, which did not provide staffers in the Encore and Westgate tunnels the gear necessary to protect their skin from chemical runoff that was at times two feet deep, workers said
‘It was a serious situation,” recalled one ex-employee of the chemical puddles to Bloomberg, with he and several others saying their ordeal demonstrated a willingness by Boring to put workers in danger. ‘I will never, ever drive in one of those tunnels’, he said
They described workers being scarred permanently on their arms and legs as a result, as accelerants also flooded in with grout via long hoses, seeing them sprayed as they maneuvered from spot to spot.
‘It was a serious situation,” recalled one ex-employee of the chemical puddles, which he and several others told Businessweek demonstrates a willingness by Boring to put workers in danger.
‘I will never, ever drive in one of those tunnels,’ they added.
Others who spoke to the magazine recalled how over the course of a month, several workers suffered such burns, with some saying they only realized chemicals had been the culprit after it was too late.
OSHA put the number of injured workers at ’10 to 15′, while billing the loop as more of ‘an express public transportation system that resembles an underground highway [rather] than a subway system.’
Another near-injury almost occurred in June, employees said when interviewed by the investigators. They claimed an intern was nearly crushed by a bin meant to hold the excess sludge as it was pumped out of the since-completed tunnel.
Made out of two-ton concrete blocks held together by metal brackets, the bin collapsed due to being overloaded with muck, narrowly missing the younger employee.
DailyMail.com has requested a copy of OSHA’s initial findings, as feds continue to vet workers’ claims.
The concrete mixture, investigators found, included various substances and chemicals including bentonite, fly ash, R 100 and Portland Cement – a concoction that can seriously burn exposed human skin. According to OSHA’s probe, at least one employee took a direct hit to the face, as the muddy mixture continued to be pumped at a rate of 12,000 gallons per day
The complaints about the latest section of Musk’s slow-moving venture raise questions about the X CEO’s claims that his company’s innovative tunneling practices will make similar large-scale projects more feasible.
He unveiled the Boring Company in late 2016, airing its existence with a tweet that hinted at the firm’s eventual mission statement.
‘Traffic is driving me nuts,’ he tweeted in December of that year, posting from the famously car flooded LA. ‘Am going to build a tunnel boring machine and just start digging.’
Registering the company under this joke name, Boring has since stuck – but its plans to create congestion decreasing tunnels in cities like LA, Chicago, and New York have not.
First billing the prospective venture as a futuristic system of pods capable of ferrying people between cities at the speed of sound, Musk publicly pondered how a ‘hyperloop’ would allow people to commute between New York City and Washington, DC, or San Francisco and Los Angeles, in about half an hour.
The boast was enough for Boring to raise more than $795million from venture capitalists captivated by Musk’s big idea – a system of underground, multi-station roadway where autonomous vehicles could cart citizens to their desired locations.
Speeds of 150 miles per hour were promised, as well as sprawling systems in several states.
Seven years in, projects in Illinois, Texas, Florida, Chicago, Maryland, and California have all either fizzled out or have been called off, leaving behind only Vegas.
The 2.4 miles seen today still serves as well short of the exec’s promises by more than 65 miles – and the cars need drivers to operate them.
Once the Loop goes online outside of the convention center, Boring Co will charge customers per ride, with a ride costing between the price of an Uber or Lyft ride and a bus ticket
As for the just-finished section that has come under federal scrutiny, its construction was completed late last year, but is still being finalized and is yet to be linked to the rest of the loop
In the meantime, what the start-up has built amounts to a shuttle for conventioneers, including those at CES in January where a 15-munite test ride showed the loop in action
It remains a long way from finished, and over the course of six months in 2023, Boring reported 36 injuries across its job sites to OSHA, records show. They ranged from heat exhaustion, knee or head contusions, or an elbow or hand being crushed
Musk – seen here at an unveiling for the first tunnel in LA, California, in 2018 that’s since been called off – continues to maintain his vision is on the way
As for the just-finished section that has come under federal scrutiny, its construction was completed late last year, but is still being finalized and is yet to be linked to the rest of the loop.
In the meantime, what Musk’s construction startup has built amounts to a mere shuttle for conventioneers, including those at CES in January where a 15-munite test ride showed the loop in action.
A few weeks later, during a conference in early February, attendees reported how the Loop’s station at the Resorts World hotel was nearly empty, as several groups of riders patiently waited for a car to take them through the tunnel.
Needing a driver despite Musk’s previous autonomous claims, the attendees were told by an attendant that the delay was because few others were taking advantage of the Loop, forcing them to send home six of 20 hired drivers.
Once the Loop goes live outside of the convention center, Boring – which has vowed to dispute the allegations through its attorney – said it will charge customers per ride, with each costing somewhere between the price of an Uber and bus ticket.
Still, it remains a long way from finished, and over the course of six months in 2023, Boring reported 36 injuries across its job sites to OSHA, records show.
They ranged from heat exhaustion, knee or head contusions, or an elbow or hand being crushed, leading one employee last May to send an email to Boring’s then–safety manager, Wayne Merideth, viewed this week by Fortune.
The message, sent from a since-scrapped Bastrop, Texas, worksite at 1:53 a.m read: ‘I feel that the company as a whole has been very fortunate these past few months that there hasn’t been a fatality.
‘We have consistently flirted with death.’
Musk unveiled his vision of autonomous cars carting individuals at speed way back in 2016, but seven years later, his mission has yet to come to fruition
As of writing, the unfinished loop in Sin City is all that remains of Musk’s promises
‘I have watched my friends get injured due to the fast pace we’ve been running,” the unnamed staffer continued.
‘I refuse to be the first fatality in this company’s history. No tunnel is worth a single person’s life.’
A month later, OSHA would launch its investigation over an anonymous complaint from the Vegas site, which will soon open its latest tunnel, hotel spokesmen have said.
Boring also recently started prep work to expand the loop to the Virgin hotel and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas, but neither project has a timetable.
The firm, moreover, has pitched numerous hotels and other sites on tunnels, according to former employees, including Caesars and MGM, but hasn’t announced any related contracts.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Boring Co. for comment.
