[emarsden]

The notion that "the more minor things happen, the greater the probability of a major incident", a common interpretation of the Heinrich-Bird pyramid, is often criticized nowadays concerning complex high-hazard systems (as in fact argued in the risk-engineering.org page that you linked to -- I know this because I wrote it).

I'm not familiar with Tesla assembly lines, but my understanding is that they are highly automated with complex robotics. This would be a typical example of a system where many safety risks are systemic and more strongly dependent on design errors than on worker safety behaviours, which is exactly the type of system in which the structuralist interpretation of the Heinrich-Bird pyramid ("reduce the small stuff at the base of the pyramid and the stuff up the top will drop down and disappear") is really inappropriate, as it can reduce attention paid to safety at a system design level.