Bizarre accident: OSHA investigates fatal killer whale attack
March 2, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Bizarre Accident of the Week, Fatality, In this week's e-newsletter, Investigations, Latest News & Views, OSHA news, What do you think?
An OSHA investigation will determine whether any safety protocols were broken in connection with the drowning of a trainer by a killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando.
SeaWorld officials say they are reviewing safety and training rules it has in place for interacting with all killer whales at all three of its parks.
Shows with the whales were expected to continue. Trainers won’t enter the water with the whales until the investigation into the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau is completed.
Meanwhile, the former head of animal training at SeaWorld Orlando says rules for handling the killer whales that were in place during his tenure had either been broken or changed.
Thad Lacinak says there were special rules for dealing with Tilikum, the largest whale of his species in captivity.
Because of his size and involvement in the deaths of a trainer at another park in 1991 and a guest at SeaWorld in 1999, Lacinak said a trainer should not have been lying down in the water close to Tilikum as Brancheau did before the attack.
Lacinak said the attack was triggered by the trainer’s mistake, allowing her long ponytail to drift in the water in front of the whale.
He says the whale probably thought the ponytail was a new toy, and that’s why it dragged Brancheau underwater by her hair.
Meanwhile, a report in the Orlando Sentinel says SeaWorld has a policy forbidding its killer-whale trainers from having dangling hair that the animals could grab.
That information was contained in a Cal/OSHA report about a 2006 incident at the company’s San Diego park in which an orca grabbed a trainer by the feet and held him underwater. The trainer suffered injuries to his feet.
The Cal/OSHA report was controversial for another reason. It originally stated, “If someone hasn’t been killed already, it is only a matter of time before it does happen,” regarding trainers working with the whales.
However, after SeaWorld criticized the original report and met with Cal/OSHA officials, that language was taken out of the final report.
What do you think about OSHA’s involvement in this investigation? Let us know in the Comments Box below.
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March 2nd, 2010 at 8:45 am
Killer whale with a history. Hmmm. How is OSHA going to solve this???? That’s well worth the taxpayers’ money!
March 3rd, 2010 at 9:33 am
[...] Bizarre accident: OSHA investigates fatal killer whale attack | SafetyNewsAlert.com | Occupational s… [...]
March 9th, 2010 at 9:04 am
If there were rules against long hair, the employee should not have been allowed to have long hair! Her immediate supervisor should have required her to cut her hair or not interact with the whale. Obviously, the rule was for her own safety and she was allowed to violate it. As tragic as the death was, you cannot blame the whale for acting instinctively. However, greater study should have been put into the fact that the whale had already killed two people in the past — maybe this whale should not be a part of the show interacting with people….how many people have to be killed before the whale is pulled from the show?
March 9th, 2010 at 5:57 pm
This case is interesting in the sense that a wild animal is involved & from what is presumed acted instinctively. From the information provided direct safety rules were not followed for the purpose of preventing the animal from injuring the trainer. Here there is a loss of life as a result of not following established rules & I think OSHA should get involved for the purpose of improving workplace safety. Unfortunately, human nature is to push the envelope until a tragic event happens & then do we change our behavior.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
They’re called ‘Killer Whales’ for a reason. Any wild animal with blood on it’s record should be put down, or at the very least removed from human interaction. Dawn was a wonderful playful young woman and I’d be willing to bet if there was a rule in place about her hair, she didn’t know about it. It just goes to show we cannot completely control a wild animal. Remember Roy (Siegfried and Roy) ?
Dawn died doing what she loved, and knew the risks involved. I hope someone learns from this.
March 9th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
This whale has a history of doing what is his nature to do. It is my understanding that mature male killer whales are rather aggressive and not all that well suited for exhibition. I hope that this whale is permanently removed from exhibition and just used for breeding. Obviously SeaWorld will have to be forced to do so. After all, this whale is the largest in captivity and a real monetary draw.
March 10th, 2010 at 9:26 am
There is an old saying, “If you spend enough time in a barber shop, eventually, you will get your hair cut.”…If you spend enough time around a killer whale who has already killed, eventually…
March 11th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Several things are wrong here, in my opinion. The whale should have been removed from the exhibit after the first death - release it back to the wild, use it for breeding, whatever but minimize people’s exposure to the dangerous animal. I don’t fault the whale for behaving according to it’s nature. If the workplace has rules against long hair and lying down near the whale, then the trainer’s supervisor is responsible for enforcing the rules. If the trainer didn’t want to cut her hair, she should have pinned it up so it wouldn’t hang in the water. This tragedy was preventable with a little common sense.
March 16th, 2010 at 9:56 am
Has the whale secured representation yet? I know a good attorney…
March 17th, 2010 at 2:40 pm
Michael…unfortunately your comment is probably not far from the truth (anything is possible in today’s society of sue happy individuals…and who knows, you may be right with soon-to-be sue happy “animals” added to the mix). Is Gloria Allred available??? She’d probably take the case for Tilikum. Anything, so she could get in front of the camera. Or, I’m sure the guys/gals from “Whale Wars” are taking up a legal fund right now as we speak. Although this is an extremely sad story…your comment did make me chuckle…and sadly it has some possible validity to it (or at least it may in the future if we continue to allow absurd and ludicrous cases (and individuals) to backlog our court systems).
May 24th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
This is another case of blaming the captured animal for being aggressive. Well if I had been taken away from my family and put in a show and held captive, I would want to munch on some ponytails as well. You want to put the animal down because it was doing what it does naturally - kill. What gives humans the right to steal the animal from its family. How pompous humans are. Look at the poor killer whale in the other aquarium in Miami. That poor thing doesn’t even have a tank that is big enough for her, but the owner won’t return her to her pod in the Puget Sound because he makes too much money off of her. Of all the whales taken in Puget Sound that day, she is the only survivor and is now 32 years old. All her brothers and sisters died in captivity. Her fins drag on the bottom of the tank where she is kept.
With all the technology available now, I would rather see an IMAX film of these beautiful animals in their natural habitat. I will never pay to see one in captivity again.
I recommend you all got to you-tube and look for the killer whale in Miami and watch her story. It is heart wrenching.
August 26th, 2010 at 10:36 am
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