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The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said it is investigating safety violations at Sea Life Park Hawaii. Read more

The state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said it is investigating safety violations at Sea Life Park Hawaii.

The DLIR’s Hawaii Occupational Safety and Health Division recently fined the marine life park $130,000 for multiple citations involving workplace safety.

Sea Life Park wouldn’t provide specific information on all the infractions, but said that it is contesting them. The park said it has already addressed violations such as replacing light bulb covers and an expired fire extinguisher.

“Sea Life Park is always happy to work with HIOSH on safety concerns, and we have swiftly addressed most of the noted items. However, while we are working with HIOSH in a friendly and cooperative manner and will gladly make safety improvements based on their recommendations, we are also respectfully exercising our right to contest the citations,” Valerie King, general manager of Sea Life Park, said in a statement to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. “Since discussions are ongoing, we do not think it is appropriate to go into further details.”

A DLIR representative also declined to release further information because the case is still open. Park officials met with state inspectors about the safety issues Monday.

“Sea Life sincerely welcomes any input from HIOSH as part of our continual quest for premiere employee safety. We are working in close cooperation with all necessary parties to promptly implement the improvements recommended by HIOSH,” King said. “We care for our employees and take their work safety very seriously. Safety is always our top priority and we are fully intent on complying with all of OSHA’s guidelines and recommendations.”

Palace Entertainment, owner and operator of Sea Life Park, is planning a major redevelopment that is estimated at $30 million over the next five years. It plans to add a new green sea turtle conservation center and volcano exhibit, and to restore part of a historic fishing village.

The company, a subsidiary of the Madrid-based Parques Reunidos Group, acquired the 22-acre park in 2008 from Dolphin Discovery of Cancun, Mexico, and owns and operates more than 60 amusement and theme parks, zoos, and water and marine life parks in Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia.

The park is upgrading the main gift shop and the Hawaii Ocean Theater, which is closed to the public.

“We have been visiting Sea Life Park photographing rusted beams, walking beams, places where tanks were starting to leak,” said Cathy Goeggel, president of Animal Rights Hawaii, which filed a complaint against the park year ago with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, the federal agency overseeing the welfare of captive animals. “They closed up two entire buildings that are part of their moneymaking program. There’s got to be a reason for that.”