It was a tragic death that should never have happened. Petty Holdings employee Gary Terry was a passenger in an Italian sports car on the exotic driving course at the Walt Disney World Speedway, traveling at high speed in the opposite direction the track’s safety features were originally designed for….
Update: Official word from Drive Petty representative is that the Exotic Driving Experience plans to reopen on May 1. They gave us this statement: “As of today, the plan is to resume EDE operations in Orlando. However, we are evaluating the situation during the ongoing FHP investigation.” That sounds like…
I’m a bit surprised, but not totally shocked, by SeaWorld’s decision not to appeal the court ruling enforcing OSHA’s finding that it was unsafe to have employees (aka trainers) in the water with Killer Whales (aka big animals with a remote risk of danger). I expected SeaWorld to take the…
Update: Sunday 4/14/13 12pm PT – Just spoke with our contact at Disneyland and have a new story with important updates to the below post: Update: Sunday 4/14/13 9am PT– Disneyland opened today with the Matterhorn Bobsleds running. Space Mountain and Soarin’ over California remain closed, according to Disney PR….
Where we last left the SeaWorld Killer Whale OSHA case was that a judge had declined to hear SeaWorld’s appeal and that trainers would not be allowed to be in the water with the animals without a barrier. SeaWorld pointed out in their appeal that the ruling only applied to…
SeaWorld is appealing an administrative judge’s opinion on whether the company is violating workplace safety rules when allowing trainers to swim with killer whales at its theme parks. The conservation minded theme park ran into a roadblock when the first stop on the appeals course, declined to hear their case….
The death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in an encounter with a killer whale was a tragedy, but SeaWorld believes a Federal Judge has gone too far restraining trainers interaction with the whales. Not just too far, but made the decision based on faulty assumptions. Yesterday the theme park asked the…
The OSHA case against SeaWorld Orlando in the death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau reached a mixed verdict today. On the one hand the judge ruled SeaWorld’s violation was not willful, merely serious, and reduced the fine from $75,000 to $12,000. But the judge sided with OSHA’s ruling that…
