In 19th December 2012, OSHA filed a petition against the SeaWorld of Florida LLC’s in a federal court in Florida in order to force it to ensure compliance with the administrative subpoenas that require SeaWorld to present three managers for an interview during the OSHA’s abatement inspections follow-up. The personnel from the SeaWorld were to answer to questions about correction or abatement of prior violation whereby the trainers exposed to drowning and struck-by hazards while they are performing with the killer whales and this was an enforcement case which started when Dawn Brancheau, SeaWorld trainer, was killed by one killer whale of the park in February 2010. The abatement follow-up inspection of the employee testimony was required by subpoena, thus OSHA inspectors were allowed to determine whether the employees in SeaWorld continue to work in unhealthy and unsafe conditions. The assistant secretary said that employers should take health and safety hazards to be important (OSHA, n. Pag).
In May 2012, the administrative law judge, Ken S. Welsch sided with OSHA for this case. The judge reduced the penalty that was proposed to $12,000 from $75,000 by reducing generally two duty clause citations which initially was willful to a serious violations and he supported the argument from OSHA that the SeaWorld should have initially provide barriers which are effective to protect the trainers from getting harmed by the killer whales. This incidence occurred to Brancheau when she was lying on platform at the pool’s edge at Shamu Stadium with the expectation that a whale of 12,000 pound will mimic her, but instead it turned to her by grabbing and pulling her under the water and where it killed her (OSHA, n. Pag).
The standard that was violated was the one covering the workers’ rights and requiring that the working conditions of the employees should not pose the risk of serious harm (OSHA, n. Pag).
Works cited
“OSHA Case Against SeaWorld Still Alive”. Occupational Safety & Health Administration. U. S. Department of Labor, 2012. Web. 22nd January 2013.
