No - the bears were hiding round the corners watching for people walking on the cracks in the floor. Somebody trod on a crack and the bears got them. Amazon could not tolerate the reduction in productivity caused by employees then carefully avoiding cracks (it slows them down) so issued bear spray. Subsequently, cracks were trodden on and bear spray was used before training in its proper use had been rolled out.
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I remember seeing a sticker when I was a kid that said, “If you still think OSHA is a town in Wisconsin, you’re in for a world of hurt.”
It’s weird, there’s a lot of negativity about OSHA standards in industrial settings. I have worked pretty extensively in industrial automation and basically it’s a combination of “I’m going to show my loyalty (lick boot) by hating the safety standards that reduce my boss’ profits” and a hot bowl of extra-stupid machismo.
It can be hard to get people even to just wear appropriate PPE. Young welders are usually the worst, they don’t want to wear aprons or respirators because they’re “not wimps” and laugh in the face of danger, etc. etc. Try to explain that zinc poisoning super-duper sucks, and so do burns, and that standing in the face of danger is more like destroying a machine gun nest and less just blindly accepting completely avoidable risks–that’s not tough, that’s stupid.
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I expect it went like this:
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No, it’s stronger. 1-2% capsaicin
The product is not primarily a scent. It must penetrate fur for skin contact, and fumes are inhaled to react with mucus membranes of the animal. The product has thickening agents to make it fire in a narrow stream for further distances, and the thickening agents help the product cling to the animal’s fur for longer effect, also to improve range the canisters are under higher pressure and contain a much larger volume.
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I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s pepper spray. "You can actually put it on your nachos,” can’t you?
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What they didn’t mention…it was one of the new AI warehouse robots that knocked the box over.
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Zinc fume fever is HORRIBLE! I got a mild case once while doing a pottery pit firing and I was using some galvanized roofing metal to cover the pit. I had a headache and metallic taste in my mouth for days.
I love OSHA standards myself, I could never convince my school custodians to clean my pottery classroom appropriately if I didn’t routinely print out the OSHA silicates standards. The custodians are convinced that I am a whiny person who wants special treatment, but it’s not their lungs in here 8 hours a day, is it?
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So basically a harmless condiment according to the talking heads over at FOX News.
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“The injured Amazon workers were delivered to the nearest medical facility and left behind the bins.”
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Ok so, if you have some bear repellent with you and you run into a bear, you take that bear repellent and spray the bear, the bear is annoyed and runs away a bit, you are incapacitated from breathing in bear repellent and worried that you will die from breathing in bear repellent - but not to worry! The bear who is now mad at you gets over the annoyance caused by the bear repellent returns and eats you.
you’re a bit spicy, actually.
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Diagram of how a particular Bear repellent works:
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I’m reminded of the people living near the Sriracha hot sauce plant factory who complained that the pepper fumes from the plant factory were making their eyes and throats burn.
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That joke is unbearable! 
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I did 
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How did someone end up in critical condition, a fall or something? Getting pepper sprayed or maced sucks but critical condition? Maybe asthma?
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There’s no direct evidence that Bezos even heard about it.
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I have had the opposite experience with young welders. maybe it comes down to where they are trained. Last week, I had a kid point out several safety issues with how I was working.
And I am super proactive about PPE. One thing I have been able to sell to upper management is the fact that we have much higher compliance rates with more comfortable and durable gear. Eye protection is the big one for that.
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Bear repellent has quite a bit of range. It can successfully deter a bear that is considering violence, or just getting too close. Probably would not be effective against and enraged and charging mother bear, any more than a taser works on someone hopped up on bath salts.
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In the British Columbia Provincial parks where I’ve canoed, they specifically forbid bear spray, bear bangers, and guns.
The way you’re supposed to interact with bears is make your presence known through moderate noise levels, and to avoid confrontations by using the bear boxes and hanging lines to store all your smellables (yes that includes anything with a scent that isn’t your own personal smell)
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