Date of incident: July 2023
Notice of incident number: 2023194970008
Employer: Silviculture services firm

Incident summary
Two young and new workers were planting trees in burn piles along a roadway in an overgrown logging cutblock. The two workers split up at a Y intersection in the road and continued planting separately. One of the workers had two encounters with a bear. The first interaction was a bluff charge, where the bear charged at the worker but then retreated into the brush. Moments later, in the second encounter, the bear attacked the worker, who sustained serious injuries. The other worker continued to work in an adjacent area unaware of the bear attack for approximately 60 minutes after the attack.

Investigation conclusions

Cause

• Bear attacked lone worker. The worker was working alone, planting trees in a remote area, when she was attacked by a large brown bear. She sustained serious injuries.

Contributing factors

• Inadequate orientation and training. The employer failed to provide the worker with adequate new worker orientation and the specific bear awareness training that was set out in its policy. The employer also failed to train the supervisor and the foreman in its working-alone policy.
• Failure to follow working-alone policy. The workers were not familiar with the employer’s working-alone policy. Workers were directed to work alone in a remote logging cutblock, even though there were signs of bear activity. They were not provided with wildlife deterrent, a means of two-way communication to summon aid, or a formalized check-in system, as set out in the employer’s policy.
• Inadequate hazard identification and risk assessment. A hazard identification and risk assessment for the cutblock was not completed in a way that ensured the dangers to workers were identified. A comprehensive assessment would have identified significant evidence of recent bear activity and copious amounts of wildlife attractants in the work area. In response, the company might have left the cutblock until there was less bear activity. Alternatively, it could have followed its own policy of having workers carry bear spray and a means of two-way radio communication, and could have had workers follow a buddy system of working in pairs.
• Inadequate coordination and supervision.
  • The employer failed to coordinate work activities in a way that protected workers from the hazards at the worksite. The employer’s representatives, including one who was on site, were aware of hazardous wildlife in the area of the cutblock and of the resulting requirement to ensure that each worker was provided with bear spray and a two-way radio, and that they worked in pairs at all times. However, workers in the incident area were directed to work alone and were not given bear spray or two-way radios.
  • Had the employer coordinated the work and provided adequate supervision, the worker and her workmate would have been working together to finish one planting area before moving to the next and been given the required safety equipment such as bear spray and two-way radios.

Other health and safety issues

• Failure to report. The incident occurred in the early afternoon of July 6, 2023, but was not reported to WorkSafeBC until approximately 08:00 on July 7, 2023. Even then, it was not reported until a WorkSafeBC officer contacted the employer to prompt it to report the incident.

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