Son Nguyen was working as a contractor at Tesla’s factory in Fremont, California, on June 5, 2017, when an electrical explosion called an arc flash occurred. The explosion lit Nguyen on fire and threw him up to 20 feet. He now experiences chronic pain and has had several skin grafts as well as having a finger amputated, reports Reveal. In a statement Tesla blamed Nguyen’s employer, Mark III Construction, for the incident, saying they had “not followed proper safety protocols and regulations.”
But Nguyen blames Tesla, saying the company “controlled” the contractor on-site. Nguyen’s lawsuit says Tesla should have cut the electricity to the equipment he was working on but alleges the company refused to because it didn’t want to temporarily stop production. “I don’t want anybody to go through what I went through,” Nguyen told Reveal. “I just want Tesla to have a safer workplace for everyone.”
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