Victor Gomez Sr. died after suffering cardiac arrest at the Tesla Gigafactory in southeast Austin in August 2024.
AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) is urging the federal government to release information after an investigation into a death that happened at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin last August.
On Wednesday, Casar wrote to Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) Scott Ketcham to release information regarding the federal government’s investigation into the death of Victor Gomez Sr. at the Tesla Gigafactory in Austin on Aug. 1, 2024.
In Casar’s letter to Ketcham, he noted that OSHA’s online database still lists the case as open and does not include information on any citations.
Casar’s request comes after a report from Reuters on Wednesday revealed that Tesla was cited for Gomez’s death.
“The American people have a right to know whether or not the federal government will turn a blind eye to problems at Tesla given Elon Musk’s unprecedented seizure of power at the White House,” Casar wrote in his letter. “An electrician’s death cannot be ignored simply because the CEO has lots of money and powerful connections.”
Background on Gomez’s death
Austin-Travis County EMS and the Travis County Sheriff’s Office were called out to the Tesla facility on the morning of Aug. 1.
Deputies with the sheriff’s office said they were responding to calls of a “deceased person” while EMS officials said they were called about an adult in cardiac arrest. Gomez was taken to Dell Seton Medical Center, where he would later die.
OSHA confirmed it opened an investigation into the incident after Gomez died, but would not release any more information until their investigation was complete.
Shortly after his death, Gomez’s family filed a lawsuit in Travis County asking for $1 million in damages. According to the lawsuit, Gomez was an employee with Belcan, which contracts employees to companies like Tesla.
The lawsuit states that Gomez, a licensed electrician from Pleasanton, Texas, was told to inspect electrical panels before they were energized. However, the lawsuit claims one of the panels already had power which immediately electrocuted him and left him unconscious.
Legal issues at Tesla
Gomez’s death is not the only example of safety mishaps that have occurred at the Gigafactory.
In 2022, multiple workers at Tesla’s Gigafactory in Austin filed defense cases to the Department of Labor (DOL) and OSHA for labor and employment violations while on the grounds, and last year the company was fined nearly $7,000 for allegedly exposing four workers to hazardous chemicals without proper training or monitoring at the Gigafactory.
In the 2024 case, inspectors with the OSHA found that workers had been exposed to hexavalent chromium in their work area in the Cybertruck body area of the facility.