INNOVATION November-December 2017

I N S I G H T

PUBL IC WANTS SAFETY, INTEGRI TY FROM REGULATORY ORGANI ZAT IONS

Familiarity with what professional engineers and geoscientists do

100%

81%

79%

72%

69%

75%

53%

Professional Engineers

52%

50%

37%

34%

Professional Geoscientists

25%

0%

2008

2010

2014

2017

they were familiar or very familiar with what geoscientists do, there was a significant increase in responses related to mining and environmental studies. This could be due in part to increased media coverage of occurrences such as the Mount Polley tailings pond breach. The survey results also indicated an overall increase in awareness of Engineers and Geoscientists BC, referred to as the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC at the time of the survey. When asked if they had heard of the association prior to completing the survey, a total of 27% of respondents said they had. This is the highest level shown to date, and represents an increase of six percentage points from 2014.

To inform our role as a public safety regulator, Engineers and Geoscientists BC regularly conducts a public opinion poll to measure awareness of the association and the professions, as well as the effectiveness of our public outreach efforts. This information provides us with a view of how we meet public expectations in the work that we do. We conducted our fourth public opinion poll in August 2017, following up on polls in 2008, 2011, and 2014. The results yielded some promising increases in awareness, and reflected an increased interest amongst respondents in regulatory tools and programs. The poll was conducted online on behalf of Engineers and Geoscientists BC by market research firm Insights West, with a representative sample of 862 adult British Columbians. The data was weighted to reflect the adult British Columbian population based on census data for region, age, and gender. Potential respondents were screened out of the survey if they or a member of their immediate family was an engineer or a geoscientist. RESPECT REMAINS HIGH, AWARENESS INCREASES When asked to rate how much respect they had for 10 well known professions, respondents demonstrated a high level of respect for both engineering and geoscience, mirroring results from previous surveys. Engineers remained steady at 90%, second only to doctors at 95%, and above architects at 88%. Geoscientists scored 81%, up two points from 2014. Familiarity with both professions showed a marked increase from 2014 results, with engineers gaining 10 points (79%) and geoscientists gaining 16 points (53%). Among those who stated they were familiar or very familiar with what engineers do, most responses related to design, construction, and management. For those who indicated

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