OSHA investigating the collapse of a crane at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility
OSHA has now opened an investigation into the collapse of a crane at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility on June 24, 2025, captured by one of the commercial live streams that track activities there continually for the general public.
I have embedded the video of that collapse below.
A SpaceX crane collapse at the company’s Starbase, Texas facility on Tuesday has prompted an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency told CNBC in an email.
The crane collapse was captured in a livestream by Lab Padre on YouTube, a SpaceX-focused channel. Clips from Lab Padre were widely shared on social media, including on X, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any SpaceX workers were injured as a result of the incident. Musk and other company executives didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The article at the link provides no additional information, instead focusing on what appears to be an anti-SpaceX screed. It never mentions that cranes such as this are almost certainly not owned by SpaceX, and are likely rented and operated for SpaceX by other independent crane companies. Thus, this failure is likely a failure of that crane company, not SpaceX directly.
Wow. This has always been one of my biggest fears in every industry I've worked in.
I hope everyone is alright
🎥: @LabPadre pic.twitter.com/OkHsiMeXKm
— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) June 24, 2025
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OSHA has now opened an investigation into the collapse of a crane at SpaceX’s Boca Chica facility on June 24, 2025, captured by one of the commercial live streams that track activities there continually for the general public.
I have embedded the video of that collapse below.
A SpaceX crane collapse at the company’s Starbase, Texas facility on Tuesday has prompted an investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the federal agency told CNBC in an email.
The crane collapse was captured in a livestream by Lab Padre on YouTube, a SpaceX-focused channel. Clips from Lab Padre were widely shared on social media, including on X, which is owned by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether any SpaceX workers were injured as a result of the incident. Musk and other company executives didn’t respond to a request for comment.
The article at the link provides no additional information, instead focusing on what appears to be an anti-SpaceX screed. It never mentions that cranes such as this are almost certainly not owned by SpaceX, and are likely rented and operated for SpaceX by other independent crane companies. Thus, this failure is likely a failure of that crane company, not SpaceX directly.
Wow. This has always been one of my biggest fears in every industry I've worked in.
I hope everyone is alright
🎥: @LabPadre pic.twitter.com/OkHsiMeXKm
— Zack Golden (@CSI_Starbase) June 24, 2025
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It’s not a large crane, just one of seemingly dozens of small cranes that can be seen nearly everywhere at Starbase and environs. Too distant a vantage point to tell if the crane in question is a rental or SpaceX-owned. SpaceX slaps its name on anything it owns outright. Rented gear – and there is a lot of rented gear at Starbase and always has been – is readily identifiable as it carries only the names of the manufacturer and/or the rental company.
A further relevant question, as you note, is the matter of whether or not the failed crane was being operated by a contractor or by an actual SpaceX employee at the time of the accident. I suspect it won’t be long before that question has a public answer.
Whether due to operator error, poor engineering at worksites or forces of nature, crane accidents – including many involving pieces of equipment quite a bit larger than this one at Starbase – are common enough that videos of dozens can be found easily on YouTube.
Compared to some of those readily findable there, this one at Starbase looks to be pretty small beer – especially if, as seems the case, no one was seriously injured or killed. Sadly, that is not the case in many of these incidents. There were two fatalities in the collapse of a much larger crane three weeks ago on Merritt Island, FL, for example, in an incident blamed on inclement weather (wind).
I’ve been an advisory product engineer at several construction sites where the construction managers are always trying to take shortcuts in order to make their completion dates. One of our products was being erected on-site, consisting of about a half-dozen separate pieces, each of which was intended (and designed) to be lifted into place one at a time, and then bolted to the next one, and to the top of the structural platform.
At this site I had a construction manager trying to talk me into approving them bolting these components together on the ground and then doing a single one-piece lift “to save time and money”. After throwing a complete [deleted]fit, I carefully, in front of witnesses, explained to him that not only would I not approve that as an advisory engineer, but that our structural engineers had explicitly prohibited doing this, and that it was spelled out that way in the erection manual. I made it painfully clear that not only would he be experiencing sole liability for it, I would find the site structural supervisor and have him completely stop work on the entire site until a more responsible construction manager could be found. He backed off.
Just looking at the video (through some amazing heat-shimmer) it appears that the crane toppled forward in the direction of the load, indicating that it was probably not correctly counter-balanced, or that the outriggers were poorly placed, or that it was simply over-loaded for the lift and/or reach they were attempting. Whoever was in control and charge of that lift is in deep doo-doo.
Blackwing1: You need to reread the rules about commenting. Just glance up a tiny bit. They are there as plain as day. No obscenities allowed.
I have deleted the curse word from your comment. You are warned. Do this again and I’ll ban you for a week.