Resort Injury Lawyer Blog

Naples Bay Resort evacuated 24 hotel guests and 20 employees from its premises after an explosion occurred around 9am Thursday.

The Naples Daily News reported that an electrical worker installing meters at the Resort suffered first-, second- and possibly third-degree burns to his upper body from an electrical flash fire. The cause of the explosion is unknown and is being investigated.

The Naples Fire Chief stated that the electrician's life was saved only because he was wearing a face shield, eye protection and a fire-resistant shirt. The fireball was reportedly hot enough to vaporize nearby metal. A hotel corridor sustained smoke damage. The electrician was a subcontractor for FPL. Damages were estimated at $20,000.

Until the investigation is complete, negligence and/or liability for the explosion and its cause could only be speculative.

Related Resort Tort case law:

• In fulfilling its duty to maintain its premises in a reasonably safe condition, "a landowner must conduct inspections appropriate for the premises involved."
Yuniter v. A & A Edgewater of Florida, Inc., 707 So.2d 763 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998)

Federal investigators concluded after 2.5 years that the Disney monorail collision that killed a 21-year-old resort employee was caused in part by a lack of adequate safety protocols.

In a 14-page report, the National Transportation Safety Board cited employee errors as the primary causes of the accident, but added that "Walt Disney World Resort's lack of standard operating procedures leading to an unsafe practice when reversing trains" was also a factor in the accident.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration had previously cited Disney with four safety violations in December 2009 upon concluding its investigation of the accident, and fined the resort $35,200.

The Orlando Sentinel reported that "an employee in the monorail's maintenance shop, which controls the system's track switches, failed to properly position the switch beam. It also found that the manager who was temporarily serving as the monorail system's coordinator -- relaying commands between the maintenance shop and the train drivers -- was not in the system's control tower during the track-switch procedure, where he could have seen that the track had not been properly aligned."

Disney's policies, however, did not require the central coordinator to be station in the control tower when directing monorail movements, nor that the employee in the monorail shop verify the beam realignment. Employees were also not required to follow an operating guide with regards to moving from the front cab of the train to the back cab before driving in reverse.

Safety policies and procedures at hotels and resorts are keys to the safety of both guests and employees.

A simple light bulb change in the pool area of the Stonewall Resort and Conference Center in West Virginia resulted in a debilitating foot and ankle injury for a resort-employed electrician, who fell about 20 feet onto concrete, reported the West Virginia Record. The employee claims he received an electrical shock when changing the bulb, causing the fall from an extension ladder.

As a general rule, property owners have a duty to keep their premises in a reasonably safe condition to protect against dangers of which the owner is aware, should be aware, or might reasonably foresee.

Adding to recently updated injury reports and a bus crash injuring five people last month, a Disney worker died Monday morning from massive head injuries he suffered on Sunday while working at the Disney's Animal Kingdom.

The 52-year-old man was repairing "The Little Dip" portion of the Primeval Whirl roller coaster when a co-worker called 911, according to a Sun Sentinel report, which published the call transcript released by Reedy Creek Fire District, Walt Disney World's municipal fire department:

"We need somebody right now," a co-worker told a 911 dispatcher. "One of our maintenance guys got hit by a moving vehicle...He got in the way of a moving vehicle."

The man was airlifted to Orlando Regional Medical Center, where he died Monday morning. Details of the accident were not immediately released and an investigation is underway by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. So far there have been no reports of a wrongful death lawsuit.

This is the second death associated with the Primeval Whirl. Another Disney employee was working on an elevated rider-loading platform in November 2007, when she was struck by one of the roller coaster vehicles, and died five days later. Disney was fined $21,000 for the accident and faulted five safety violations by federal investigators.

Wild animal trainer deaths and injuries are beginning to pile up. The latest incidents occurred over the weekend when an 8,000-pound elephant backed into a trainer, 33-year-old Stephanie James, crushing her to death against the metal bars of a stall in the Knoxville, Tennessee Zoo. By all accounts, the elephant was not acting aggressively and was obeying commands. On Saturday, a zookeeper had two fingers bitten off by chimpanzees in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.

Earlier this year, the death of a SeaWorld orca trainer prompted an investigation into the subject of employee risk, by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The incident was said to be the worst tragedy in SeaWorld's history. Still, there are enough killer-whale accidents with trainers recorded that SeaWorld shows an entire video of them as part of its trainer orientation program.

In an Orlando Sentinel article, a former SeaWorld trainer blames himself for the 2-inch-thick medical file he accumulated during his career, saying they were all the result of his mistakes, not the aggressive behavior of an orca. The injuries "were an inevitable consequence of a job that involves intense physical activity and close contact with animals that can be as big as a school bus."

In September, Atlanta and Miami were both investigating the cause of captive wild animals escaping their cages. Zoo Atlanta found a venomous rattlesnake after it escaped, toured the neighborhood, and was killed by a nearby property owner. Zoo officials said a cage door was not properly secured by a staff member, according to the Associated Press. At Miami's Jungle Island, a 500-pound Bengal tiger leapt over a tall fence, provoked by a small ape that snuck out of his own cage.

SeaWorld Orlando and Walt Disney World are both being sued in personal injury lawsuits involving employees at the theme parks who were killed on the job. The monorail driver killed in a train collision in July 2009 is suing Walt Disney World; the husband of a killer-whale trainer drowned by an orca last February is suing SeaWorld.

As the Orlando Sentinel reports, Florida law gives employers near-ironclad protection from lawsuits prompted by injuries and fatalities occurring on the job. Former Governor Jeb Bush and Florida's business lobby had championed an overhaul of the state's workers' compensation laws seven years ago, but critics say the system is slanted too heavily in favor of businesses.

Through workers' compensation, employees have the ability to obtain payment without slogging through expensive litigation, but they lose the ability to sue their employer for larger sums.

In accidents that lead to the death of an employee, cumulative wage payments are capped at $150,000, plus up to $7,500 to cover funeral expenses and -- in the cases of surviving spouses -- payment of student fees.

Click here to contact a board certified civil trial specialist with 25 years of experience representing victims of negligence in personal injury matters.

© Jruffa | Dreamstime.com
SeaWorld said it will challenge the findings of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's six-month investigation of a killer whale trainer's death. The Orlando Sentinel reported that the investigation concluded in a proposed $75,000 fine and proposed restrictions. The trainer's death in February has been called the worst tragedy in SeaWorld's 46-year history.

OSHA cited SeaWorld with one "willful" workplace-safety violation due to "known aggressive tendencies" from previous incidents and continued "unprotected contact" by trainers. Two lesser citations included one for not installing stairway railings on two bridges on the stage used for "Believe" killer-whale shows, and one for the lack of weatherproof enclosures on the outdoor electrical receptacles around SeaWorld's orca complex.

OSHA recommended that SeaWorld trainers never again have direct contact with Tilikum, the whale who drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau on February 24. OSHA also recommended that SeaWorld implement new safeguards before trainers are again allowed to swim or work in close contact with smaller killer whales.

In a prepared statement, OSHA said: "SeaWorld recognized the inherent risk of allowing trainers to interact with potentially dangerous animals. Nonetheless, it required its employees to work within the pool walls, on ledges and on shelves where they were subject to dangerous behavior by the animals."

OSHA added that "...SeaWorld trainers had an extensive history of unexpected and potentially dangerous incidents involving killer whales at its various facilities....Despite this record, management failed to make meaningful changes to improve the safety of the work environment for its employees."

SeaWorld issued a statement in response: "SeaWorld disagrees with the unfounded allegations made by OSHA today and have already informed the agency that we will contest this citation. OSHA's allegations in this citation are unsupported by any evidence or precedent and reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of the safety requirements associated with marine mammal care."

SeaWorld has 15 working days to formally challenge OSHA's findings. An appeal would go before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, an administrative court overseen by a three-person commission appointed by the president.

The February 24, 2010 death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau prompted yet another investigation into the subject of employee risk, by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), as well as an internal probe within SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment.

The Orlando Sentinel's article chronicling incidents and accidents involving captive killer whales and their trainers says that SeaWorld estimates close to 2 million interactions between trainers and killer whales since 1964 - a "relative scarcity of injuries," demonstrating a strong safety record. But there are enough killer-whale accidents with trainers recorded that SeaWorld shows an entire video of them as part of its trainer orientation program.

Former SeaWorld trainer Mark Simmons blames himself for the 2-inch-thick medical file he accumulated during his career, saying they were all the result of his mistakes, not the aggressive behavior of an orca. The injuries "were an inevitable consequence of a job that involves intense physical activity and close contact with animals that can be as big as a school bus."

© Jruffa | Dreamstime.com