Top federal regulator lashes out at Disney, SeaWorld, other entertainment venues (worker safety)

[Omaha Steve]

http://thedailydisney.com/blog/2010/05/top-federal-regulator-lashes-out-at-disney-seaworld-other-entertainment-venues/

Featured, Jason Garcia, News — By Jason Garcia on May 27, 2010 at 7:59 pm

A top federal regulator accused the entertainment industry Thursday of a lax commitment to worker safety, singling out deaths at Walt Disney World and SeaWorld Orlando among other recent examples.

David Michaels, the U.S. Department of Labor assistant secretary for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said he was putting theme parks and other entertainment venues “on notice” following a spate of worker injuries and deaths, including three fatalities last summer at Disney World and another in February at SeaWorld where a trainer was drowned by a killer whale.


Monorail station at the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World where a crash early in the morning on July 5, 2009, killed the driver of one of the trains.(George Skene, Orlando Sentinel)


“We’ve seen several examples of employers in the entertainment industry that have not provided precautions adequate to protect workers. And we’ve seen fatalities as a result of that,” Michaels said during a conference call with reporters. “There’s a tremendous amount of risky work in these facilities and safety is often not considered the highest priority in these cases.”

Michaels’ broadside came as OSHA issued a $3,675 fine against the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach following an investigation into the death of an employee who fell 25 feet from a scaffold last December. The agency cited the theater because it had not installed a guardrail or other barrier to protect against falls.

It was the latest of what Michaels called a series of employee injuries and fatalities at entertainment venues across the country, ranging from the deaths at Disney World and SeaWorld to injuries at a concert hall in Los Angeles and a Cirque du Soleil act in Las Vegas.

Representatives for both Disney and SeaWorld vehemently rejected Michaels’ charge that that they do not make worker safety a priority.

FULL story at link.