United States | News & Politics

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Five current and former Boring employees who spoke with Fortune say the same safety issues persist, with two reporting that chemical burns seem to happen “daily.” When asked to describe safety protocols and training, one employee who left in recent weeks put it simply: “There is none.” The events may even have emboldened Boring Company in its interactions with regulators. In mid-August, Clark County’s environmental regulators allege, Boring workers refused to stop dumping wastewater down manholes around Las Vegas and later “feigned compliance” and made false statements to inspectors about when the dumping had started, according to documents sent to Boring Company from the Clark County Water Reclamation District. The episode ended up causing “substantial damage” to the broader county infrastructure, and the regulator fined Boring Company nearly $500,000, the documents show. (Boring has not responded to Fortune’s multiple requests for comment on the matter) To date, Boring has never paid a penalty to Nevada OSHA for any safety incidents on its job sites. The company is still contesting eight citations issued in 2023 by Nevada OSHA. As Boring Co. has plowed ahead, Nevada OSHA has been one of the few checks on its practices. But the events of this spring have led some to call into question OSHA’s willingness or ability to wield its own authority. For those underground, digging the tunnels, a perceived lack of consequence has sent a clear message: “It seems like people are going to have to die, because they won’t make sh*t safe for us,” one current Boring employee says.