john jett osha letter

8/8/2019 John Jett OSHA Letter

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 To Whom it May Concern,

Based upon OSHA's citation(s), and the predicted response from Sea World, I have

concerns which may be pertinent to the discourse. As a former trainer at Shamu

Stadium (Sea World Orldando), I am of the opinion that the scuba bottle solution

Sea Word is likely to propose to OSHA represents, in practical terms, very little. Inother words, this is mostly a false solution.

First of all, I have serious concern with mouthpieces and hoses dangling off of 

trainers as these may become items for whales to become focused on and to grab.

Sea World is claiming that Tilikum initially grabbed Dawn's ponytail, which

ultimately lead to her death. I'm not sure how an air hose and a ponytail differ, at

least from the perspective of Sea World's story line. Do whales differentiate

ponytails from air hoses?

Secondly, assuming a trainer who was being thrashed by a whale was somehow

able to get the mouthpiece into his/her mouth and begin breathing from the tank(an assumption I think is faulty as it would be difficult to get a mouthpiece in place

given the forces potentially imposed on a trainer while being tossed around). The

bottom of the front pool represents about two atmospheres of pressure. The

volume of a lung full of air taken at this depth doubles while one ascends to the

surface. In the event a trainer takes a breath at the bottom (off of a tank) and is

then rushed to the surface by the whale then his/her lungs expand beyond capacity

and are ruptured. It is unrealistic to assume that an injured, disoriented, and/or

panicked trainer will have the ability to exhale appropriately while ascending

through the water column at high velocity.

 Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, this approach would not have saved DawnBrancheau from her horrific death. Spare air does not mend broken bones nor re-

attach severed limbs.

In my opinion, the spare air concept is an attempt to create the illusion that they

have fixed a problem in which they have no real control. That is, it is now obvious

that captive killer whales occasionally do what they want, without human consent,

and in ways immune to human interventions.

Please feel free to contact me if necessary. Office: 386-822-8177.

Respectfully submitted,

 John Jett, Ph.D.