A steel worker in northern Japan is recovering in hospital after a bear attack at a remote industrial site, sources have confirmed. The incident has taken a bizarre twist: the victim's employer has reportedly turned to UK health and safety regulators for guidance on preventing future attacks. Documents obtained by this paper show the company, a subsidiary of a major Japanese conglomerate, emailed the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) last Tuesday, asking for 'advice on managing large carnivore risks in an industrial setting'. The HSE, which has no jurisdiction in Japan, politely declined to provide specific guidance. But the request raises serious questions: what is a Japanese steel firm doing with bears near its plant? And why are they looking to Britain for answers?
The attack occurred at a scrap metal yard in Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost island and home to a dense population of brown bears. The worker, a 47-year-old father of two, was reportedly sorting through a pile of reclaimed steel when the bear struck from behind. Colleagues drove the animal off with crowbars and welding torches. The worker sustained deep lacerations to his arm and back but is expected to make a full recovery.
I spoke to a former HSE inspector who asked not to be named. 'This is mad,' he said. 'The HSE has no business telling a Japanese company how to manage bears. But it shows you how globalised industry has become. Companies shop around for the cheapest safety advice, or in this case, any advice at all.'
Follow the money. The steel company's parent group has extensive holdings in the UK, including a Sheffield-based speciality metals firm. The Sheffield operation has faced its own safety scandals, including a 2018 fine for failing to protect workers from molten metal splashes. Is there a connection? A source inside the Japanese company told me the email was sent on the advice of a consultant who had worked with the British firm. 'They thought the HSE would have guidelines because of the Scottish wildcats or something,' the source said, referring to the rare predator that sometimes roams near rural industrial sites. 'It was a mistake.'
But mistakes in health and safety cost lives. Last year, a different Japanese steel plant was fined after a worker fell into a furnace. The company's safety record is patchy at best. And now this: a bear attack that could have been prevented with proper fencing or bear-proof waste disposal. The HSE sent a polite reply saying they had no applicable guidance and suggested the company contact Japan's Ministry of the Environment. The Japanese firm has since contracted a local wildlife management expert.
Yet the story won't die. I've seen the email thread. It's a paper trail that smells of corner cutting and bureaucratic confusion. The UK connection is thin, but it reveals something rotten: in the race for profits, safety corners are cut everywhere, from Sheffield to Sapporo. A steel worker in Japan nearly died because someone thought the British civil service might have a leaflet on bears. It's absurd, but it's also a warning.
Corporate malfeasance doesn't always come in a suit with a briefcase. Sometimes it comes in fur, with claws. But the money behind it is the same. I'll be watching this story.
