In light of the controversial shooting of a black bear and her three cubs by a wildlife officer in Northern Alberta recently, and other similar instances, large oil companies have become concerned about the increasing interaction between humans and bears in the regions in which they operate.  Some of these companies, such as Encana, now requiring their employees and subcontractors to complete bear awareness training prior to coming to work in the area.

SafetySync has always had a good selection of bear and wildlife awareness training lesson choices to satisfy this requirement, but in light of the increased demand, we've added a couple new choices. One developed by the BC Ministry of Forests, another by the California Department of Fish and Game, as well as one by a group called "Be Bear Aware".  Employers can now choose between video links ranging from 8 minutes to 27 minutes for the bear awareness lesson.

We've also added a new lesson link (and associated quiz) in the Wildlife Awareness course called Bear Pepper Spray.  This 9 minute video, prepared by the US Parks Service, explains how to select, handle and fire a bear pepper spray canister in the event of a threatening bear encounter.  [It is highly informative; none of the staff here at SafetySync were aware that canisters should be test-fired, and that they contained enough pepper spray to be fired more than once.]  If your company policy requires employees working in the back country to take bear pepper spray with them, we highly recommend you turn on this lesson so they know how to use it.