SeaWorld appeals citations in trainer death case

July 12, 2012 by Fred Hosier

Posted in: Compliance, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, OSHA news

Calling the administrative law judge’s (ALJ) ruling “illogical,” SeaWorld Orlando has appealed a decision that bars trainers from being in the water with killer whales during performances.

The ALJ’s ruling last month required the trainers to stay out of the water during whale performances or to be behind a barrier, separating them from the marine animals. However, trainers can still be in the water with the whales outside of the shows for such purposes as attending to the whales’ medical needs.

In its appeal to the entire Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC), SeaWorld stated, “In essence, the Judge concluded that having close contact with killer whales is a recognized hazard, but only if that contact occurs during the performance of a show.”

The OSHRC can decide not to hear an appeal of the ALJ’s decision. If that’s the case, the judge’s decision will become final on July 16.

“Never before has a hazard been identified as such in one setting and then determined to be an acceptable activity in another setting,” SeaWorld said in its appeal.

The marine park faces $12,000 in OSHA fines in connection with an inspection after trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed when she was pulled underwater by killer whale Tilikum.

Originally, OSHA had issued $75,000 in fines to SeaWorld, but the ALJ reduced the severity of one of the fines from willful to serious.

Do you think it makes sense for trainers to be banned from being in the water with the killer whales during performances but not at other times? Is there a more logical solution to this case? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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Tags: killer whale, OSHRC, SeaWorld, Tilikum

TedBean

It looks like OSHA was trying to do SOMETHING about a highly publicized tragedy. They should have been much more narrow in their ruling. What exactly was the trainer doing? What exactly had Sea World done or failed to do to protect against that event? If you want to prevent falls from a ladder, you can simply ban ladder climbing, or you can set commonsense guidelines and accept that somebody somewhere is going to fall off a ladder.
al

Why do so many of you hate wild animals to the point of wanting to stop all the reseach as well as renewed interest in the “captive’ animals. Seaworld has done incredible things to help understand the diease processes in many aquatic animals and their day to day rituals, this also goes for many zoos and aquariums. Do you think small children would even know what a Killer whale was if not for Shamo. Get a grip much good is done by these organizations and the shows are a means of off setting the cost of their good deeds. As for the judges ruling I believe it is somewhat shortsighted.
sheralroh

I agree with the Court. It is deplorable that humans are entertained by animals in captivity. They should all be released into the wild again, even the one at the Miami Aquarium. Humans should be ashamed of themselves. These animals are in prison and tortured daily. shameful.
Bob in Nebraska

Maybe it is because of the crowd that is present during performances. A whale, just like any other animal, would be more excitable and prone to abnormal behavior in front of a crowd.
Randy

This is completely ridiculous. Is OSHA going to start attending the circus and cite fall protection standards for trapeze and high wire acts? How about the lion tamer? What about stunt performers in the movies? Some businesses and their performers take certain risks for the sake of the show. That’s kind of the point. Most that I know of are very careful to make the performance as safe as possible, but they are cognizant of the uncontrollable risk that is associated with the act.
Willy

I personally wouldn’t mind if the trainers were never allowed in the water with them to train. That means the whales couldn’t be trained. Which in turn would mean there wouldn’t be a need to hold whales captive. Also, wasn’t the trainer in question outside of and on the edge of the pool and actually not in the water with the whales? If I’m correct then the judges ruling has nothing to do with the actual incident. If I’m mistaken then disregard my last statement.
Jason B

It seems to me that the judge’s main concern was the general public witnessing another event such as the one that claimed the life of the trainer in this article. In makes no sense to allow a recognized hazard to exist in one area and not in another… but SeaWorld should tread carefully as the review board may come back and say no trainers will ever be allowed in the water without a barrier.