The department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched an investigation of the aquatic theme park that revealed the trainer was not properly protected while working with the whale.
The investigation led to OSHA issuing a general duty clause serious citation for allowing employees to work closely with the animal. Exercises exposed trainers to the “potential for bites, struck-by, and drowning hazards,” the investigation found.
OSHA has proposed a fine of $16,500.
“SeaWorld has 15 business days from receipt of the citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission,” a SeaWorld Orlando release reads.The report does not provide the extent of the injuries the trainer succumbed or what exercises were being performed when the incident occurred.
SeaWorld Orlando was most notably the subject of an OSHA investigation in 2010, when park trainer Dawn Brancheau lost her life after being dragged into a water enclosure by male orca Tilikum, the park’s largest whale at the time, during a “Dine with Shamu” show.
OSHA issued three violations against the park totaling $75,000 in 2010. SeaWorld disputed the citations.
Just four human deaths caused by captive orcas have been recorded — and three of those attacks were by Tilikum. Deaths attributed to his actions also include a trainer at the now-defunct British Columbia park Sealand of the Pacific and a trespasser who was found dead in the whale’s breeding tank at SeaWorld in 1999.
Tilikum was later the subject of a 2013 documentary film, Blackfish, which aimed to inform viewers about the controversy surrounding keeping orcas in captivity. After the film’s release, SeaWorld stopped allowing trainers in the water with animals and later announced in 2016 that it would end its orca breeding program.
The park and its former CEO were fined $5 million in 2018 after being accused of downplaying the film’s impact on the park’s revenues. It later reached a $65 million settlement in 2020 with shareholders over the film.
Subscribe to Orlando Weekly newsletters.
Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Bluesky | Or sign up for our RSS FeedRelated Stories
Salvation Army cited more than $120K following death of Orlando employee on the job
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2025.