Employees of The Boring Company, Elon Musk’s company that is digging an underground tunnel in Las Vegas, complain about terrible working conditions. This is stated in a report by Bloomberg Businessweek.

Employees say that in addition to the traditional difficulties inherent in their work, they also face more serious problems. One of them is the neglect of workers’ safety by The Boring Company.

For example, in addition to mud, the tunnels are full of chemicals that can harm your health and cause serious skin burns. The Nevada State Occupational Safety and Health Administration says that workers have permanent scars on their arms and legs. One tunnel worker also reported feeling the effects of the chemicals.

There have been no reports of workplace fatalities, but critical situations have occurred. One of the trainees working in a tunnel was nearly crushed by a container overloaded with dirt. Another employee said that the company was saving money on everything.

In total, the Nevada investigation showed that there were at least 8 confirmed “serious” worker safety violations at the production site. For this, The Boring Company was fined a total of $112,504 last fall. Company representatives deny such accusations.

In addition, the workers also said that in the summer, after The Boring Company started digging tunnels in Las Vegas to connect the Encore and Westgate hotels, the work lasted 24 hours a day, and they had to work 12-hour shifts 6-7 times a week. They also complained about malfunctioning equipment and lack of personal protective equipment.

During their shifts, workers had to spend all 12 hours in the tunnel, they were not allowed to go out for lunch, and they had to ask permission to go to the toilet.

The Boring Company was founded in December 2016, after Elon Musk posted on Twitter that traffic congestion was driving him crazy. Since then, the company has not been able to achieve any of its goals in the time it promised, and the work is progressing much more slowly than it is being reported.

Since its founding, the company’s only commercial project has been a significantly scaled-down shuttle bus system for the Vegas Convention Center, which transports passengers from one end of the center to the other.

This tunnel also has a branch that takes guests from the convention center to the Resorts World hotel, which is located on the opposite side of Las Vegas Boulevard. However, this system is also only available during conferences, and participants drive Tesla sedans with a speed limit of 65 km/h.

Nevertheless, in May 2023, The Boring Company received permission to expand the Las Vegas tunnels to a total length of 104 kilometers. But it is not clear how realistic such plans are.

However, since then, the company has launched two more products, which, however, are in no way related to its core business. One of these products was a flamethrower, and the other was Burnt Hair perfume with the smell of burnt hair.

In January, another company of Elon Musk, SpaceX, also received a fine for neglecting employee safety.