When word came through that a bear had wandered into a steel mill in Japan, my first thought was not for the animal but for the workers. How do you clock in for a shift knowing you might face a creature that has no regard for your break times or your union rights? The incident, which occurred at a facility in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido, left one employee injured before the bear was eventually subdued.
And now, UK workplace safety regulators have issued an alert, reminding employers to consider 'all potential risks' to staff. Which is all well and good, but what sort of risk assessment covers a marauding bear? The symbolism is hard to ignore.
We have built our industrial fortresses, our steel and concrete bunkers, only for nature to remind us that it does not respect our boundaries. For the workers on the ground, the fear is real and immediate. They do not need a regulator's memo to tell them that their place of work is no longer safe.
They have seen the claw marks on the walls.
