Engineer at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin nearly suffocated to death under a ROCKET ENGINE as burnt out staff were forced to work 24-hour shifts in pursuit of lucrative Government contracts, lawsuit claims

An engineer at Jeff Bezos's spaceflight company Blue Origin nearly suffocated to death while working under an experimental rocket engine due to lax safety rules, according to a new lawsuit obtained by DailyMail.com.

The bomb suit also illustrated the company's toxic culture, where management forced employees to behave themselves and ignore safety rules, including multiple 24-hour shifts.

The events are said to have occurred between 2020 and 2022, when Blue Origin was racing to fulfill US government contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

Plaintiff Craig Stoker filed the lawsuit, which also alleged wrongful termination arising from his complaints about safety issues.

Stocker managed the Blue Origin BE-4 rocket engine project for two years ending in October 2022, when he was fired without cause.

BE-4 has been plagued by delays for years.

According to the lawsuit, Stoker and others were ordered to withhold information about production and delivery delays from United Launch Alliance, whose BE-4 Vulcan launch vehicle is supposed to fly.

Stoker's lawsuit alleged that Blue Origin retaliated against him because he blew the whistle on safety issues and the company culture it created.

He alleged in the lawsuit that then-CEO Robert Smith pushed the team to “repeatedly violate safety procedures and processes in order to meet unreasonable deadlines.”

“Then when problems inevitably arise (including those related to safety), Smith explodes,” according to prosecutor Craig Stocker.

One of the $7 million BE-4s exploded in a fireball during a routine test in June this year, adding to the “frustrating delay” in engine development.

“There seems to be a cultural problem there,” Stoker's lawyer, Will Reed, told DailyMail.com.

The allegations paint a picture of a company that values ​​deadlines over employee safety, and Stocker was suspended for trying to speak up to protect fellow employees — violating California laws that protect whistleblowers who raise concerns.

Blue Origin did not respond to a request for comment.

Not only were Stocker's complaints ignored, but the women in command ignored his concerns and expected him to just grin and bear it because he was a man, the lawsuit alleged.

The lawsuit was filed by the law firm Shegerian and Associates in the California Supreme Court for the Central District of Los Angeles County on November 27.

In one of the most shocking claims, Stoker said a fellow Blue Origin employee nearly suffocated while working under an engine nozzle during a nitrogen purge process in the summer of 2022.

This process uses nitrogen to remove any remaining fuel, oxygen, or moisture from the rocket engine fuel lines. Nitrogen gas is not flammable, but it can suffocate people if enough of it fills an enclosed space.

“Despite the fact that industry practice requires barriers and notification systems in areas subject to nitrogen purging operations to make employees aware of the imminent danger, none of these systems existed at the time,” the lawsuit alleged.

This incident occurred shortly after Stoker raised his first concerns with company leadership.

According to the lawsuit, Stoker made his initial complaint about safety concerns in a meeting with Linda Coffey, vice president of the engines business unit, and Mary Plunkett, senior vice president of human resources, in May 2022.

Later that month, Stoker emailed Cova and Plunkett “to confirm and report other serious concerns regarding CEO Smith's conduct and the current hostile work environment that was impeding Blue Origin's ability to operate safely, efficiently, or efficiently,” the suit says. Judicial.

In the email, Stocker complained that instead of moving more quickly because of Smith's urgings, he and his leadership team wasted time and energy cleaning up the CEO.

“We spend a lot of time calming things down, rebuilding morale, repairing the damage, preventing people from overreacting to a trend to violate policies and procedures and guiding them in making the right decisions,” the lawsuit said.

In early 2023, he also reported that on at least two occasions, teams were required to work 24-hour shifts.

He claimed that the resulting fatigue and exhaustion led to errors that required additional time and energy to correct.

Melissa Beatty, Blue Origin's senior director of human resources, was appointed to lead the investigation into Stocker's complaints, according to the lawsuit, and she met with Stocker in May and June of 2022 to discuss his complaints. Since the matter involved the CEO, they were handed over to an outside lawyer, Stoker was told.

Stoker alleged that in the time after he filed his complaint, the company retaliated against him.

He alleged that they “sought to embarrass Stoker in front of his peers” by denying him a permanent workplace at the company's Los Angeles office.

Stocker continued to complain about safety issues and a culture of rejection surrounding him, until he was told in October 2022 that he was fired “without cause,” according to the lawsuit.

Reed told DailyMail.com that regardless of the company's stated reasons, Stoker's termination had the appearance of retaliation.

He received good performance reviews, but after he started complaining about the company, he was fired without cause.

When he was suspended, Stoker was told he had done nothing wrong, and was not accused of any misconduct. He later received a severance offer that he described in the lawsuit as “bad.”

“You shouldn't throw away good employees — who are trying to protect other employees — like trash,” Reed said.

This lawsuit is not the first the world has heard about management and leadership issues at Blue Origin.

In October 2021, reports emerged that the company suffered from a toxic and dysfunctional “bro culture.”

But while female employees at the time claimed a toxic environment for women, Stoker's suit said it was toxic for men, too.

In September this year, Smith resigned as CEO.

Stoker demanded that Blue Origin pay damages for a total of 12 separate claims included in the lawsuit, and requested a jury trial.

Reed did not reveal the amount his client was seeking in the lawsuit.

This article will be updated if Blue Origin responds to our request for comment.

Read the full lawsuit here.