The Boring Company’s tunneling operations have been temporarily suspended at one of the company’s construction sites as regulatory officials investigate a “crushing injury” Wednesday evening that took place in Las Vegas, according to spokespeople from the local fire department and OSHA.
Boring Company employees told emergency responders that a “coworker had sustained a crushing injury,” according to a spokeswoman for the Clark County Fire Department, who told Fortune in an email that the department received a call about an “industrial/machinery incident” at approximately 10:12 p.m. Wednesday evening. An 18-person rescue crew was dispatched, and the Fire Department used an on-site crane to lift the worker from the tunnel. The worker was subsequently transported to a local hospital, the Fire Department says. “The patient is reported to be stable,” the spokeswoman said. The hospital did not return an immediate request for comment.
The Clark County Fire Department said that tunnel boring operations had been temporarily halted at the site pending an ongoing accident investigation. A spokeswoman for Nevada OSHA told Fortune the agency had been notified of the incident and dispatched officials to the site to open an investigation.
The incident took place along Paradise Road, where the Boring Company has been working on expanding its tunnel system to the Las Vegas airport. The Boring Company has received initial approvals to dig a 68-mile underground public transit system in the city. Thus far, it has completed 3.5 miles of tunnels below the Las Vegas Convention Center and to connecting resorts.
Investigations published by Fortune last year found that dozens of employees had been injured during Boring Company projects including the construction of the tunnel to the Wynn and Encore resorts on Las Vegas Boulevard, and that the Las Vegas monorail had to briefly be shut down after Boring Company workers dug too close to its foundation. After Fortune’s reporting, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority started taking a more hands-on role in safety and appointed an employee to oversee their work. The CEO of the LVCVA told Fortune a few weeks ago that he was not aware of any major safety incidents since that appointment.
The Boring Company has recently begun testing self-driving Tesla vehicles, with safety drivers, in the tunnels below the convention center.
Boring is still awaiting permits from the city to start construction on a tunnel within city limits that would run below Las Vegas Boulevard. The company is also starting preparations for another tunnel system below the city of Nashville.
The Boring Company did not return an immediate request for comment.
Are you an employee at the Boring Company? Do you have further information? Contact Jessica Mathews at [email protected] or through the secure messaging app Signal at 479-715-9553.
