These all seem like OCR errors...? Why would there be OCR in this workflow? Did they print this out and then generate a PDF from a scan instead of the original source? To maintain an air gap maybe?

it would seem so. so the question is why they would maintain an air gap for a safety report

It's a good policy. Document formats like to include lots of random junk, better to be safe.

Also it prevents redactions from being disclosed.