Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Screening Questions

NOTE: Questions 1 -4 are required to ensure representative sample of respondents. The answers to these questions do not contribute to the scoring and index calculation. 1. Are you at least 18 years old and normally a resident of Ontario?

Yes No [THANK AND TERMINATE]

2. Can you tell me what age category you fall into? Younger than 18 [THANK AND TERMINATE] 18 to 24 25 to 34 35 to 44 45 to 54 55 to 64 65 or older

3. What is the postal code of your primary residence?

4. What is your gender?Male Female Other Prefer not to say

5

Is there a statistically relevant corelation between public safety and gender? If not, suggest this

question be removed.

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question

Likelihood to “call before you dig”

5. If you were to undertake a household project that required digging – such as planting a tree or building a deck – how likely are you to call to locate electrical or other underground lines?

1.00pt

0.75pt 0.50pt 0.00pt 0.00pt 0.00pt

Definitely Very likelySomewhat likely Somewhat unlikely Very unlikelyDefinitely Not Don’t know

6

Each answer to core safety awareness questions will be allocated points based on the accuracy of the response. In this document, the proposed point allocation for each answer is identified. Responses are to be indexed to create a single comparable public awareness score. The formula for determining the score is shown on page 14.

Point allocations are not intended to be revealed to the respondent.

NOTE: Questions 5 -10 are the core safety awareness questions and their scoring will generate the final index score for an LDC based on the formula proposed on page 14.

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question Impact of Touching a Powerline

6. How dangerous do you believe it is to touch -- with your body or any object (i.e., metal ladder)-- an overhead power line?

1.00pt Very dangerous 0.50pt Somewhat dangerous 0.00pt Not very dangerous 0.00pt Not at all dangerous 0.00pt Don’t know

7

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question Proximity to Overhead Powerline

7. When undertaking outdoor activities – such as, standing on a ladder, cleaning windows or eaves troughs climbing or trimming trees – how far away from an overhead power lineshould your body or an object be? Would you say …

0.00pt 0.00pt 1.00pt1.00pt 1.00pt

0.00pt

You can safely touch an overhead power line At least 1 metre (3 feet)At least 3 meters (10 feet)At least 6 meters (20 feet)More than 6 meters (20 feet)

Don’t know

8

The revised scoring reflect the OHSA requirements

Suggest "at least 6 meters" be removed; redundant

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question Danger of Tampering with Electrical Equipment

8. Some electrical utility equipment is located in or on the ground, such as locked steelcabinets that contain transformers.

How dangerous do you believe it is to try to open, remove contents, or touch the equipment inside? Would you say …

1.00pt Very dangerous 0.50pt Somewhat dangerous 0.00pt Not very dangerous 0.00pt Not dangerous at all 0.00pt Don’t know

9

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question Proximity to Downed Powerline

9. How closely do you believe you can safely come to a downed overhead power line, such as adowned line caused by a storm or accident? Would you say…

0.00pt 0.00pt 0.00pt 0.00pt 1.00pt

0.00pt

You can safely touch a downed overhead power lineAt least 1 meter (3 feet)At least 5 meters (16 feet)At least 10 meters (33 feet) You should maintain a distance of 10 meters or more (33 feet)

Don’t know

10

Suggest this category be removed; redundant

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Core Safety Awareness Question Actions Taken in Vehicle in Contact with Wires

10. If you were in a vehicle – such as a car, bus or truck - and an overhead powerline came down ontop of it, which of the following options do you believe is generally safer?

0.00pt 1.00pt

0.00pt

Get out quickly and seek help Stay in the vehicle until power has been disconnected from the line and emergency personnel have confirmed area is safe Don’t know

11

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Segmentation / Demographics Occupational Proximity to Powerlines

11. Does your job regularly cause you to come close to energized power lines?

Yes No Don’t know

12. Do you work in any of the following fields?

Transportation General labour Construction or outdoor trades Electrician Other [please specify: ________________ ] Don’t Know / Refuse

12

NOTE: Questions 11 -14 are intended to provide information of value to LDCs in determining how to target awareness efforts. The answers will not contribute to scoring or the LDC index calculation.

As a possible alternative group trades, retail, MUSH, etc.

Public Electrical Safety Awareness Questionnaire: Segmentation / Demographics

13. How would you describe your primary residence? Would you say …

A fully-detached home A semi-detached home A townhome or row house An apartment or condo building less than 5 stories An apartment or condo building 5 stories or higher A Farm Other (please specify)

14. Does your home receive electricity through overhead wires or underground cables?

Overhead wires Underground cables Don’t know / Refuse

Thank you for taking time to answer my questions today/tonight. To learn more about electrical safety in your community, please visit your local electrical utility’s web site at www.LDC_name.ca.

13

Calculating Public Electrical Safety Awareness Index Scores

Impact of touching a power line

Proximity to overhead power line

Danger of tampering with electrical equipment

Likelihood to “call before you dig”

Proximity to downed power line

Actions taken in vehicle in contact with wires

0 to 1pts

0 to 1pts

0 to 1pts

0 to 1pts

0 to 1pts

0 to 1pts

All section points bound between 0 and 1

Add all 6 section points among survey respondents

Divide score sections and survey sample size

Multiply score by 100 LDC public awareness score bound between 0-100%

14

Methodology Guide

15

Survey Design: Representative Sample

Sample should be representative of the adult population living within an LDC’s service territory.

Representative General Population Samples:

• Adults 18+ living in the LDCs service territory

• Representative sample of residents in LDC’s service territory by AGE, GENDER, and REGION (where

appropriate) based on most recent Statistics Canada Census data.

What is not considered representative:

• Tacking “public safety awareness” questions onto customer surveys will not reach a representativesample of the population residing in an LDC’s service territory.

• Townhall meetings, mail-back surveys in bill inserts, community BBQs, and mall intercepts are alsonot considered representative of an LDCs general population.

Recommendation: Set quotas and survey weights based on Statscan’s latest census data to reflect the demographic composition of the general population residing in a LDC’s service territory (this is a standard practice for a professional research firm.)

16

Survey Design: Field Execution

Consistency in survey execution is important for comparability and representation of the public.

Options:

• Telephone or Online Survey

What’s not appropriate for the execution of this survey:

• Voluntary online polls on a website would not be appropriate as it would not generate arepresentative sample of the population.

Recommendation: LDCs be given flexibility to choose between telephone and online approach most feasible given LDC size and resources, as long as this approach is used each year by the LDC for comparison purposes.

17

Survey Design: Sample Size

Recommendation: Sample size of n=400. The additional costs to LDCs to secure a larger sample is not justifiable in terms of improved margin of error.

Sample Size: There are two elements of opinion research that need to be factored in to this effort; generalizability and margins of error.

Generalizability refers to the question of whether it is appropriate to project the findings of a sample to the broader public. Qualitative research (one-on-ones and focus groups) are not generalizable for a variety of reason.

Even with generalizable research, surveys generate estimates that have a margin of error associated with them. If the margin of error is ±5% and the result is within ±5% of the target, you have to conclude the result is not statistically different from the target. Hypothetically, if the goal was to raise awareness of the danger of contact with power line from 70% to 80% and the result is 75% (which is statistically the same as the target), it is still within the margin of error.

The following margins of error apply to the sample size below:

n=1,000 sample size MoE +/- 3.1%

n=600 sample size MoE +/- 4.0%

n=400 sample size MoE +/- 4.9%

n=200 sample size MoE +/- 6.8%

Note: these margins of error apply the same to both LDCs with populations of 2 million or 20,000.

18

Survey Design: Execution of Survey

During the LDC Working Group meetings, one option discussed was for a number of LDCs to collaborate and use a common vendor to manage their research -- one vendor executing research in multiple markets and providing individual results reports to each LDC client.

It is expected this would generate some expense savings but the amount would depend on how many LDCs participated and specific quotes provided by the vendor. This would not be mandated by the OEB but available as an execution option for LDCs.

19

Electrical Safety Authority Public Consultation #15-02

See the instructions on page 3 about how to participate in the consultation.

1. Please provide your feedback on:

• The draft core questions

• The proposed scoring scales and index

• The proposed methodology

2. In an effort to make consultations more accessible and easier to participate, we have changed the formatof our consultation documents – from ‘white paper’ style documents to a deck. Did you find thisconsultation material effective?

3. Do you have any other comments?

20

This survey offers a key opportunity to profile both the role of the ESA and local distributors (LDCs) in promoting and educating the public on safety issues. For this reason, HOL believes that the ESA should partner with provincial LDCs in promoting the survey. Due to the diverse population, a range of mediums, such as radio and social media should be utilized.Noting that the public is inundated with surveys, typically leading to low response rates, fresh approaches to effectively engage the public should be explored. Specifically, the public should be given a compelling reason to participate (i.e., one’s personal safety, etc.). Further, the survey should be convenient to access and create interest with questions, for example:How do you score on electricity safety awareness? Find out for safety’s sake! etc. Learn more by completing a quick electrical safety awareness test available at your local hydro company website.” Once the survey is completed, the participant immediately receives a score along with the correct answer(s) to the question(s) they got wrong (the educational benefit). Further, links could be provided for additional sources of information.

As noted within survey

As noted within survey

As noted within, utilize this public engagement survey to educate the public also.

Present survey in Word, request submission as a PDF