'Bear Countermeasure Training' Conducted at Tohoku Electric Power Network Joetsu Power Center

Shinichi Tanabe (Director of Academic Affairs) of the International Outdoor College (i-nac) (Location: Myoko City, Niigata Prefecture; hereinafter i-nac), a school corporation under the NSG Group, conducted a 'Bear Countermeasure Training' on May 29, 2026, at the Tohoku Electric Power Network Joetsu Power Center (Joetsu City, Niigata Prefecture) for employees and partner company staff engaged in work in mountainous areas. In recent years, sightings of Asian black bears and brown bears have increased across the country, and human casualties have occurred one after another. In workplaces with many opportunities for work in mountainous areas, such as patrolling, inspecting, and maintaining power facilities, appropriate understanding and response capabilities regarding the risk of encountering bears are required. A total of 50 people, 29 at the main venue and 21 at the remote venue, participated in this training session. It was conducted as an interactive training session that incorporated not only lectures but also group work. ■ Lecture Theme: 'Bear Risks and Countermeasures in Mountainous Work - Behavioral Design to Avoid Meeting and Approaching -'. ■ Main Contents: - Basic understanding of bears (behavioral characteristics, recent changes) - Analysis of human casualty cases and risk structure - Specific risks in mountainous work - Actions and judgments to avoid meeting - Basic responses and NG actions when encountering - Effects and limitations of equipment such as bear bells and bear spray - Group work (1) 'Identifying bear risks lurking in our work', (2) 'Examining action plans that can be practiced on-site'. In the lecture, based on human casualty data and sighting/capture data in Niigata Prefecture, etc., various trends in human accidents were explained. In addition, rather than a simple understanding that 'bears are dangerous animals,' we introduced risk management to prevent accidents by considering bear behavioral characteristics, learning ability, and factors for appearing in human settlements. In the group work, many specific issues and improvement proposals based on daily work were raised, and it was an opportunity to re-recognize the risks for each site by thinking about the contents learned in the lecture in terms of one's own work. ■ Changes in participant awareness seen from the questionnaire. In the pre-training questionnaire, many individual measures were raised, such as avoiding solitary action and carrying bear bells or bear spray. On the other hand, in the post-training questionnaire, interest in organizational and behavioral measures increased, such as sharing sighting information, grasping dangerous locations, acting in groups, and calling out on-site. It can be seen that the perspective of grasping bear countermeasures not only as an 'equipment problem' but as 'organizational safety management including information sharing and behavioral design' has spread. ■ Training satisfaction and effectiveness. In the questionnaire conducted after the training (5-point scale), high evaluations were obtained in all of satisfaction, relevance, usefulness, and applicability, confirming that the content was highly relevant and useful to the participants' work and could be utilized on-site. Satisfaction 'How was the content of this training?' 4.6 (92% of 5 points). Relevance 'Do you think this training is relevant to your work?' 4.7 (94%). Usefulness 'Do you think this training is useful for your work?' 4.7 (94%). Applicability 'Do you think you can utilize what you learned in this training in your work?' 4.6 (92%). ■ Participant comments: In the free description, the following voices were received. - I was able to learn about the ecology of bears and have a higher defensive consciousness than before. - It was a meaningful lecture where I could utilize new knowledge in my work. Thank you very much. - It was useful content, including countermeasure methods I didn't know. - I was able to confirm effective bear countermeasures. Also, in this training, many realizations were raised regarding the following items. In particular, multiple opinions were seen saying, 'I was able to understand that bear countermeasures are not just equipment, but daily actions and information sharing are important,' and it can be seen that the understanding of the lecture theme 'Behavioral design to avoid meeting and approaching' has deepened. - Understanding of bear behavioral characteristics and learning ability - Many human accidents occur due to 'unexpected close encounters' - Effects and limitations of bear bells and bear spray - Risks during solitary action and breaks - Importance of sharing sighting information and team cooperation. ■ 'Ability to learn risks' necessary for sites facing nature. At i-nac, utilizing knowledge of outdoor education, natural environment education, and safety management education, we are working on safety training and human resource development not only for school education but also for companies and local governments. We will continue to provide learning opportunities that support safe and sustainable activities in various fields related to the natural environment.