Disney Deaths Prompt Federal and Local Investigations

[WDW Vacationer]

This was in the Wall Street Journal.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125064214537741833.html

BY SARAH MCBRIDE

The accidental death of a performer at Walt Disney Co.'s Walt Disney World in Florida -- the third employee fatality at the park since early July -- has prompted separate local and federal investigations.
Anislav Varbanov, 30 years old, died late Monday after he was injured performing a tumbling roll during a rehearsal for a show based on the Indiana Jones character in the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie series.
The U.S. Labor Department sent an Occupational Safety and ...


You can't read the rest unless you have an online subsciption.:brick:

 

[Monty]

I can see the whole article and don't have a subscription:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125064214537741833.html

By SARAH MCBRIDE

The accidental death of a performer at Walt Disney Co.'s Walt Disney World in Florida -- the third employee fatality at the park since early July -- has prompted separate local and federal investigations.
Anislav Varbanov, 30 years old, died late Monday after he was injured performing a tumbling roll during a rehearsal for a show based on the Indiana Jones character in the "Raiders of the Lost Ark" movie series.
The U.S. Labor Department sent an Occupational Safety and Health Administration investigator to Orlando to determine what had happened. OSHA has up to six months to report its findings, a spokesman said. In addition, the local sheriff's office is looking into the matter, and Disney has launched its own investigation.
Mr. Varbanov's death followed the death last week of Mark Prince, 47, from complications following a head injury suffered during the performance of a pirate show. Last month, Austin Wuennenberg, 21, died when another train backed into a monorail he was operating. OSHA is also investigating those deaths.
A medical examiner in Orlando performed an autopsy on Mr. Varbanov Tuesday and ruled the death was caused by a neck fracture and was accidental, said Sheri Blanton, a senior program manager with the medical examiner's office.
Mr. Varbanov, a native of Bulgaria, had joined Walt Disney World last month and had worked and trained as a gymnast and acrobat since at least 1991, according to a Disney spokesman.
The Disney spokesman said the park uses its own "rigorously trained" employee team, including engineers, to examine the safety of equipment and practices at Disney parks. Eleven months ago, the safety team was reorganized to combine employee and customer safety at Disney's parks and resorts.
OSHA has launched five inspections of parts of Disney World in 2009, three because of the fatalities and two in response to complaints. In February, OSHA fined Disney $4,000 for violations related to exposed openings and electrical wiring. Walt Disney World employs some 60,000 people.
Florida tracks park accidents, but only those affecting customers, said Rob Jacobs, chief of the Bureau of Fair Rides Inspection. In the quarter ended June 30, Disney reported a dozen, ranging from a 66-year-old who fractured his ribs after colliding with another guest on the Rudder Buster water slide to a 48-year-old woman who felt weak after riding on the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster.
Write to Sarah McBride at sarah.mcbride@wsj.com

 

[tigsmom]

Well it's SOP to send in OSHA and the locals always investigate so that's really not big news. They would investigate any company that had a serious injury or employee death, it's just that the name Disney stands out more.

Nothing to be upset about (investigation wise it's a good thing), the deaths are another matter altogether. I can't help but personally think that their safety training needs to re revamped.


EDIT: Monty beat me to the article posting

 

[Figment632]

These are all very sad but the only one that really needed to be investigated was the monorail accident.

 

[Monty]

These are all very sad but the only one that really needed to be investigated was the monorail accident.

Why would you say that?

Any time there is a death associated with the workplace it should be investigated. If you leave it up to the owner of the workplace to determine when an investigator should be called in, nothing would ever be investigated. Despite what people may think of Unions, they fought long and hard to take control of workplace safety out of the hands of owners and managers to ensure there was accountability for workers' safety and health. It is a tragedy when anyone dies in their workplace, but without outside investigations it would be more common than it is today.

 

[ErickainPA]

well said Monty. This is not the first time that OSHA was called in to investigate an accident at Disney, or any other park for that reason. Better safe than sorry for all that are involved.

 

[tigsmom]

These are all very sad but the only one that really needed to be investigated was the monorail accident.

Nope, wrong. And I believe Monty put it very well.

Why would you say that?

Any time there is a death associated with the workplace it should be investigated. If you leave it up to the owner of the workplace to determine when an investigator should be called in, nothing would ever be investigated. Despite what people may think of Unions, they fought long and hard to take control of workplace safety out of the hands of owners and managers to ensure there was accountability for workers' safety and health. It is a tragedy when anyone dies in their workplace, but without outside investigations it would be more common than it is today.

well said Monty. This is not the first time that OSHA was called in to investigate an accident at Disney, or any other park for that reason. Better safe than sorry for all that are involved.

Nor will it be the last as long as WDW is open. They employ so many people that it is inevitable that somebody will be hurt in the future ( God willing there will be no further deaths) and it is OSHA's job to investigate.

Occupational Safety & Health Administration is the main federal agency charged with the enforcement of safety and health legislation .


and Erik this isn't aimed at you, but your quote was pertinent.

 

[Figment632]

Why would you say that?

Any time there is a death associated with the workplace it should be investigated. If you leave it up to the owner of the workplace to determine when an investigator should be called in, nothing would ever be investigated. Despite what people may think of Unions, they fought long and hard to take control of workplace safety out of the hands of owners and managers to ensure there was accountability for workers' safety and health. It is a tragedy when anyone dies in their workplace, but without outside investigations it would be more common than it is today.

After reading what you wrote you are 100% correct, let's just hope this tragic run of badluck is over. Or if Disney's needs to work on safety let's hope they fix it soon.

 

[tigsmom]

After reading what you wrote you are 100% correct, let's just hope this tragic run of badluck is over. Or if Disney's needs to work on safetyblets hope they fix it soon.

From your mouth to God's ears

 

[Monty]

After reading what you wrote you are 100% correct, let's just hope this tragic run of badluck is over. Or if Disney's needs to work on safety let's hope they fix it soon.

Hear hear!

And as Mad said, nothing was aimed at you... Health & Safety and accident prevention are subjects near and dear to me.

 

[Figment632]

Hear hear!

And as Mad said, nothing was aimed at you... Health & Safety and accident prevention are subjects near and dear to me.

Oh I didn't think you were aiming anything at me but being a Disney fan I hope that Disney hadn't been cutting corners on safety.

 

[EPCOT Explorer]

Either way...It's a very sad thing for the CM's and WDW. Bad things come in 3's....

 

[rct247]

I hope that Disney hadn't been cutting corners on safety.

Nope. Disney has been and will always keep safety of all its guests and cast members a top priority. They make a lot of effort through training, spiels, signs, safety equipment, available information, and staff to make sure everything from operating a roller coaster to serving food to pushing water is done safely. Disney even rewards and celebrates safety.

It's when guests and cast members make mistakes, cut corners, or disobey where things go wrong. Of course like in the past two CM deaths, there can be pure accidents that may not be preventable.

 

[HMF]

Nope. Disney has been and will always keep safety of all its guests and cast members a top priority. .

That's not nessacarily true. While obviously no one wants these things to happen' Paul Pressler's penny-pinching Run it until it fails mentality led to the death of a guest on Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland. TDO still uses a lot of the Pressler Playbook so I would not be surprised.

 

[speck76]

That's not true. While obviously no one wants these things to happen' Paul Pressler's penny-pinching run it until it fails mentality led to the death of a guest ond Big Thunder Mountain in Disneyland. TDO still uses a lot of the Pressler Playbook so I would not be surprised.

You're an idiot.

 

[peter11435]

You're an idiot.

Well said...

 

[Tom]

Oh I didn't think you were aiming anything at me but being a Disney fan I hope that Disney hadn't been cutting corners on safety.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Disney probably isn't cutting corners in the Safety department. If you lack Safety, you increase liability and risk, which in turn increases costs to the company in the form of lawsuits and payoffs. As we all know, Disney isn't big on writing checks - they prefer to cash them.

These two recent deaths are vastly different than Austin's. Austin was the victim of negligence on the part of employees, and most likely not the employer. OSHA will determine that for us soon.

From what it sounds like, the Pirate and the Indy Jones guy suffered death by accidents. The pirate mis-stepped and planted his head into a wall. Perhaps there was some water on the ground. Perhaps he should have gotten new non-slick shoes. Perhaps he should have had better balance. Regardless, he's dead now because of an accident he had.

Mr. Varbanov is a stunt double. His job by default puts him in the position to make these kinds of mistakes every day. He fell and broke his neck and died. Would one more training session on that type of fall helped? Did he have on his anti-falling shoes?

Disney is not cutting corners on Safety - they're cutting corners on guest satisfaction by closing parks early, cutting shows, and charging too much for a Mickey Bar to help pay off these frivolous lawsuits.

 

[board57796]

As is drilled into our brains from day one, our priorities are:

Safety
Courtesy
Show
Efficiency

In that order.

 

[HMF]

You're an idiot.

Let me just clear a few things up. I did not say that it is TDO's fault. What I said was Disney is not perfect and there have been incidents in the past which were due to neglect of Attractions. I don't neccasarily think this is TDO's fault. I hope not. But still you can't be under the illusion that Disney is perfect. If this were just one incident I would not be as suspicious but this is the third in two months.

 

[WDW1974]

Disney has actively reduced training (even things like Traditions are a shadow of what they used to be). Disney has moved to more part time workers. Disney may not have laid off a large percentage of its workforce in 2009, but many were seasoned leaders. Disney is known for trying to squeeze pennies from rocks. Many transport CMs have brought safety issues to people above them only to have been silenced and/or threatened with termination. Disney has pushed CMs into working OT to cover for labor shortages brought about by cutting the number of CMs.

Those are all facts.

Whether those contributed to any/all of the deaths hasn't been determined. (I certainly believe Disney was at fault for the rails collision ... even if it gets blamed on the CMs, they were still working under what was SOP in 2009 at WDW).

But OSHA getting involved tells you there are some folks who think that, at the very least, Disney needs some oversight into its safety issues.

I'd agree.

Imagine if your company had three fatalities, all in unusual circumstances, in two months.

And calling someone an idiot when they bring up a valid point isn't kewl and IMHO should get someone tossed from the site for a few weeks until they cool down. When you have to call someone a name to rebuke their point, you lose all cred.