--- title: "Boring Company Pauses Work After Worker Gets Crushed" description: "Elon Musk's tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company's operations in Las Vegas were suspended after a worker sustained a \"crushing injury.\"" date: "2025-09-12" modified: "2025-09-12" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/boring-company-pauses-work-worker-crushed" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "elon musk" - "the boring company" - "transportation" - "tunnel" --- # Boring Company Pauses Work After Worker Gets Crushed ![Elon Musk's tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company's operations in Las Vegas were suspended after a worker sustained a "crushing injury."]() *\Image: Ethan Miller/Getty Images\* Elon Musk's tunnel-digging firm The Boring Company's operations in Las Vegas were suspended after a worker sustained a "crushing injury." As local fire department and OSHA spokespeople [told *Fortune*](), authorities received a call about an "industrial/machinery incident" on Wednesday evening. The injured worker had to be lifted out of the tunnel using an on-site crane and transported to a local hospital. "The patient is reported to be stable," a spokeswoman for the patient told *Fortune*. It's yet another example of the poor safety record of Musk's many businesses. Both SpaceX and Tesla have faced significant criticism for [soaring injury rates]() and workers being forced to work in [poor conditions](). An ongoing investigation into the latest Boring Company incident has ground operations to a halt at the company's construction site along Paradise Road in Las Vegas. The company is hoping to expand its tunnel network to the city's airport, as part of its approved plans to dig a 68-mile and 105-station transit system, [dubbed the "Vegas Loop]()." It's a highly ambitious plan, aiming to cut travel time from the Harry Reid International Airport to the Las Vegas Convention Center down to just five minutes. But considering the company has only completed 3.5 miles of tunnels below the convention center over the last six years, it may not be up to the task. The Boring Company has [also abandoned]() [several plans]() for other transportation systems around the country. As [*Bloomberg* reported]() earlier this year, Musk's firm has fallen far short of his highly ambitious goals of revolutionizing transportation using an [ultra-fast underground hyperloop](). Its most notable sources of revenue so far have been the [sale of a "not-a-flamethrower]()," as well as a perfume that [smells like burnt hair](). According to *Fortune*, the Boring Company still doesn't have permits to dig a tunnel below the iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, a portion of which is better known as the Strip. Worse yet, instead of shuttling passengers through the narrow tunnels inside high-capacity trains, the Boring Company has opted for a long line of modified Tesla sedans, which have already [caused traffic jam-like situations underground](). That's a far cry from the [original renders]() the company showed off seven years ago, involving "hyperloop" tunnels and futuristic, mass transit-like shuttles. The company has also employed human drivers to chauffeur each Tesla through the tunnels. While it started testing self-driving vehicles with safety drivers last month, convention center executives [told *Fortune*]() full autonomy is still "ways off." **More on the Boring Company:** *[Confused Drivers Are Somehow Getting Lost in Elon Musk's Goofy Las Vegas Tunnel]()* ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()