SpaceX’s Starbase launch and manufacturing complex in South Texas recorded a Total Recordable Incident Rate of 4.27 injuries per 100 workers in 2024, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration filings reviewed by TechCrunch. That figure is almost six times the average for U.S. space-vehicle manufacturers and nearly triple the rate for aerospace production overall. The data show 3,558 restricted-duty days and 656 lost-time days for the site’s roughly 2,690 employees last year. The elevated rate continues a trend that has persisted since 2019, although it marks an improvement from 5.9 injuries per 100 workers in 2023. Starbase’s safety record also outpaces other SpaceX factories; the company’s engine test site in McGregor, Texas, reported a 2.48 TRIR in 2024, while its Hawthorne, California, rocket plant logged 1.43. OSHA has opened 14 inspections at SpaceX facilities over the past four years, six of them involving accidents at Starbase, including a finger amputation in 2021 and an ongoing probe into a crane collapse in June 2025. Former OSHA chief of staff Debbie Berkowitz called the numbers “a red flag that there are serious safety issues that need to be addressed.” The safety performance comes as Starbase accelerates work on Starship, the reusable heavy-lift rocket central to Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s plan for Mars missions and to NASA’s Artemis program. NASA has committed more than $4 billion for two crewed Starship lunar landings and retains contractual rights to intervene in the event of serious safety breaches, though persistently high injury rates alone do not automatically trigger action.