BC Hydro says it’s frightened the search for the right selfie is main individuals to take more and more dangerous risks on its property.
The Crown company says it has seen a 200-per cent improve in trespassing incidents on its property up to now 5 years, in some instances involving dams, transmission towers or different elements of its electrical infrastructure.
The firm says a survey it commissioned this spring suggests “rather a lot” of the risk-taking behaviour may very well be tied to makes an attempt to seize pictures or movies for social media.
There have been a number of high-profile deaths around the globe in recent times attributed to dangerous behaviour by influencers looking for the right image.
Just this month, Influencer Sophia Cheung died whereas making an attempt to snap a selfie at a waterfall in Hong Kong.
According to BC Hydro’s survey, 16 per cent of respondents admitted standing on the fringe of a cliff to get the right shot, whereas 12 per cent said they’d ignored warning signage and 9 per cent said they’d taken a selfie from a dangerous peak.
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About two per cent admitted to hurting themselves whereas making an attempt to snag the picture they have been searching for.
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BC Hydro said it believes these numbers may under-represent the truth of the state of affairs, given the variety of social media posts highlighting thrill-seeking behaviour.
The survey discovered individuals aged 18 to 34 have been the most certainly (20 per cent) to take a threat in pursuit of a social media put up, and that males have been twice as doubtless as girls (18 versus 9 per cent) to take a threat for picture.
Risk taking on dams was of explicit concern, BC Hydro said, noting dozens of security incidents and close to misses at dams, producing stations and reservoirs in recent times.
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“Most of those incidents contain members of the general public participating in ‘daredevil’ behaviour akin to cliff leaping, swimming or boating out of bounds and ignoring security signage and getting to shut to lively producing infrastructure — and infrequently they doc their actions for social media,” the report said.
BC Hydro pointed to a number of current incidents, together with somebody who climbed atop the Buntzen Lake Dam powerhouse to make a YouTube video and somebody noticed swimming on the downstream facet of the Comox dam whereas spillway gates have been open as examples of dangerous behaviour.
The Crown company says it has additionally documented dozens of instances of individuals climbing high-voltage transmission towers to take pictures yearly, an exercise it says may simply result in demise by falling or electrocution. It says numbers have dropped because it put in anti-climbing units.
The firm is urging individuals to steer clear of its producing stations and infrastructure, and to obey all signage on its property.
It’s additionally reminding individuals to remain on marked trails in its recreation areas, to hear and look ahead to warning sirens and strobe lights and to remain exterior of areas of water cordoned off with booms and buoys.
The on-line survey was carried out by Majid Khoury of 800 British Columbians from May 17-19, 2021. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.5%, 19 instances out of 20.
© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
