OSHA launches new SeaWorld investigation

[Admin Rose]

Federal inspectors say they've found more unsafe working conditions at SeaWorld, leading to a new investigation into whether trainers are being protected from the park's killer whales.

In September, video from Local 6 helicopter Sky 6 showed SeaWorld Orlando trainers still having close contact with whales during shows.

Months prior to that, an administrative judge ruled that SeaWorld must keep its trainers out of the water and behind barriers when performing with the whales.

Weeks after Local 6's report, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration conducted a follow-up inspection at SeaWorld and indicated in court papers that they observed more "unsafe conditions." Details of that inspection have not been made public.

SeaWorld is asking a judge to postpone the safety requirements while they appeal the order.

The initial investigation stemmed from the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was pulled underwater by a whale and killed at SeaWorld Orlando in February 2010.

[Deleted]

Aren't they in the middle of a court case right now? How does OSHA have the manpower for this? Will that damn floor of theirs make any difference? Are these conditions any "unsafer" then the exact same ones they saw before? Can this just all be over please?

At this point we should just have an OSHA board

[Admin Rose]

Simple their bored and have nothing else to do..

[bondedwiththesea]

I'm fairly sure the rules they're breaking are allowing the trainers to touch and work with the whales on and from the slideout without barriers. Which is BULLS**T if they make them add barriers there, because you can't not allow them to touch or interact with the animals AT ALL. Like, **** that! On the slideout they're fine, the whales can't move enough to do anything to anyone, god forbid they ever tried to.

I respect that OSHA is an organization trying to make working conditions safe, but when it comes to working with animals, you have to be very careful that you don't push "safe" so far that the proper care for the animals becomes impossible, which is what it seems OSHA may do, whether on purpose or merely through ignorance.

[SkyBaby]

There is something fishy. There is more than enough information that can be gathered by studying the regular interactions between trainer and orca under normal circumstances to know that not all the orcas will or have ever had incidents with trainers. What happened with Tili and Dawn is tragic, but to make a ban on WW and close interaction of all orcas? Tili was a no WW orca than only certain senior trainers can work with and suffered a difficult past. OSHA researchers are too smart to be excused as ignorant on the subject. With this going on as long as it has, I refuse to believe they are still all that ignorant. It doesn't make any sense. They have to be doing this on purpose. What their motives would be in this case, I have no idea. Why we don't see them getting involved in the far more common incidents with captive big cats makes no sense.

WW with orcas like Kasatka and Orkid were kept to a minimum before Dawn's tragic death. Ok you can tell this still makes me angry lol.

One last thing then I'm done lol. I almost wonder if there was some huge monetary gain to be had by OSHA for doing this.

[Deleted]

At this point, IDK if OSHA has much of a choice, to be honest. They're probably under a fair amount of federal pressure to get their way. They need to set some sort of example, I'm sure, that big business is not above the law. But SeaWorld has a lot of money, a lot of lawyers, and a lot invested in getting these trainers back in the water. SeaWorld has made it pretty clear they're going to kick and scream and NOT go quietly, and they have at this point made things a lot harder for OSHA then they probably normally have to deal with.
Do I hate OSHA? No. They're just doing their job. I'm upset that they are putting me and people I care about through this, but that isn't their intention. I do maintain that they do not completely understand the issue, that is, how working with animals actually goes, because if they did they would totally not believe that "husbandry waterworks" bullcrap. No one does husbandry waterworks.
At this point I think both SeaWorld and OSHA just want this whole thing over and done with but neither can afford to back down. I just hope and pray some vague resemblance of my childhood dream remains by the time the dust clears.

[bondedwiththesea]

Dec 20, 2012 17:02:26 GMT -4 @shamu21gac said:

At this point, IDK if OSHA has much of a choice, to be honest. They're probably under a fair amount of federal pressure to get their way. They need to set some sort of example, I'm sure, that big business is not above the law. But SeaWorld has a lot of money, a lot of lawyers, and a lot invested in getting these trainers back in the water. SeaWorld has made it pretty clear they're going to kick and scream and NOT go quietly, and they have at this point made things a lot harder for OSHA then they probably normally have to deal with.
Do I hate OSHA? No. They're just doing their job. I'm upset that they are putting me and people I care about through this, but that isn't their intention. I do maintain that they do not completely understand the issue, that is, how working with animals actually goes, because if they did they would totally not believe that "husbandry waterworks" bullcrap. No one does husbandry waterworks.
At this point I think both SeaWorld and OSHA just want this whole thing over and done with but neither can afford to back down. I just hope and pray some vague resemblance of my childhood dream remains by the time the dust clears.

Well truthfully, husbandry waterworks could mean 2 things:

Allowing trainers to maintain a close(r) trust relationship with the animals by being able to interact with them in the water behind the scenes, because it's pretty obvious that the trainer-whale bond is stronger when the trainers are able to be in the water with them as well. (As pointed out, sometimes being able to be in the water with the animal can also help the trainers notice small oddities in their behavior that could signal to something being off with the animal, therefore helping them pinpoint sickness earlier)

AND

It could mean allowing trainers and/or vets to get into the water if an animal was very sick or if they believed an animal was sick enough that they had to get into the water to help it. That's a very real possibility, if trainers need to hold an animal up, administer meds, exc. They do have a med pool for that, however, there could be instances where they need to be in the water with the animal. They're rare, but possible.