Brief description of the organization
The Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) regulates and promotes electrical safety in Ontario. The ESA is Ontario’s delegated administrative authority for electrical safety, reporting to the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement (MPBSDP). ESA operates independently while working closely with the government to enforce and promote electrical safety regulations across the province.
The Ontario government has given ESA a mandate to improve public electrical safety. We fulfill this mandate by undertaking a range of activities aimed at enhancing public safety, including inspection, authorization, investigation, licensing, enforcement, training, field evaluation and continuous safety services.
Problem area
The central problem is determining the optimal tire strategy for a large, high‑mileage fleet operating across Ontario’s diverse climate zones. The fleet currently purchases a second set of winter tires for every new vehicle, creating significant cost, storage, operational, and environmental challenges. Alternatives such as running winter or hybrid tires year round introduce tradeoffs in safety, fuel efficiency, carbon impact, and lifecycle management. Students will explore how to balance these competing factors and identify a sustainable, evidence‑based tire strategy for a provincial fleet.
Main objectives
- Identify and evaluate tire strategy options (winter + summer sets, winter year round, hybrid tires).
- Quantify the cost, safety, and environmental impacts of each option for a fleet of 330 vehicles, including 75–100 new vehicles added annually and 9M km driven across Ontario.
- Model the operational implications of each strategy, including storage, logistics, changeover scheduling, and OEM tire constraints.
- Assess how Ontario’s varied climate zones affect tire performance and strategy feasibility.
- Analyze the organizational and change management requirements for shifting to a new tire strategy, including communication, training, stakeholder impacts, and adoption barriers.
- Recommend a practical, scalable tire strategy that minimizes cost, maintains safety, supports carbon reduction goals, and can be successfully implemented across the organization.
Scope of work
- Literature review: Review research on tire performance, lifecycle modelling, fuel efficiency, safety outcomes, environmental impacts, and change management in fleet operations.
- Environmental scan: Examine how comparable public and commercial fleets manage tire strategies and operational challenges across different climate zones.
- Operational assessment: Evaluate storage requirements, logistics workflows, seasonal changeovers, OEM tire constraints, and regional operational differences across Ontario.
- Fleet data analysis: Analyze ESA fleet data for three hundred thirty vehicles, including seventy five to one hundred new vehicles each year and nine million kilometres of annual travel, to model cost, safety, carbon, and lifecycle impacts.
- Scenario modelling: Compare alternative tire strategies using models that incorporate climate variation, operational complexity, cost profiles, and environmental outcomes.
- Change management analysis: Assess stakeholder impacts, training needs, communication requirements, and organizational readiness for adopting the preferred strategy.
- Final recommendation: Produce an evidence based strategy with clear operational, environmental, and change management considerations.
Deliverables
- Report
- Presentation
- Resources
- New protocols/processes
Team meeting frequency
Bi-weekly
Skills and training required
Students will need strong research and analytical skills to review literature, assess external practices, and interpret fleet data. They will require modelling skills to compare tire strategy scenarios and evaluate cost, safety, and environmental outcomes. They will also need operational analysis skills to understand logistics, storage, and workflow constraints. Communication and presentation skills will be important for summarizing findings and delivering a final recommendation.
Resources required
The project team will need access to computing resources for data analysis, modelling, and statistical analysis. They will require access to ESA fleet data and publicly available tire performance and climate data. The team will also need to meet with ESA’s fleet manager, who will share the current state of operations and support the students by answering questions throughout the project.
NDA or a commercialization agreement for this project?
Yes