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A fully updated handbook on effectively communicating environmental, safety, and health risks

Written by two well-known risk practitioners with over twenty-five years' experience in the field, this fully updated Fifth Edition of Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks offers sound, scientific research with practical, hands-on advice for those in the public and private sectors.

Highly accessible and easy to understand, this must-read includes real-life examples of such headline-making events as the tsunami and radiation release in Japan in 2011, the BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010, and extreme weather events, along with the lessons learned from them. It offers new chapters on public health campaigns, and on the use and effectiveness of social media for risk communication purposes.

Risk Communication is divided into five self-contained parts:
Part I provides background information for understanding the basic theories and practices of risk communication
Part II explains how to plan a risk communication effort
Part III describes how to put risk communication into action
Part IV discusses how to evaluate risk communication efforts, including techniques for measuring success
Part V highlights special cases in risk communication, including disasters and other emergencies, international risk communication, and public health campaigns

An ideal introduction to the field, this book is also a welcome reference for those involved in communicating environmental, safety, and health risks in government, industry, and academia.

Risk Communication: A Handbook for Communicating Environmental, Safety, and Health Risks

LIST OF FIGURES xv

LIST OF TABLES xvii

PREFACE xix

ABOUT THE AUTHORS xxi

1 INTRODUCTION 1

To Begin 2

The Risk Communication Process 5

Audiences, Situations, and Purposes 6

References 7

PART I UNDERSTANDING RISK COMMUNICATION

2 APPROACHES TO COMMUNICATING RISK 11

Communication Process Approach 12

National Research Council's Approach 12

Mental Models Approach 13

Crisis Communication Approach 14

Convergence Communication Approach 15

Three-Challenge Approach 15

Social Constructionist Approach 16

Hazard Plus Outrage Approach 17

Mental Noise Approach 17

Social Network Contagion Approach 18

Social Amplification of Risk Approach 18

Social Trust Approach 19

Evolutionary Theory Approach 20

Extended Parallel Process Model Approach 20

Summary 21

References 21

Additional Resources 22

3 LAWS THAT MANDATE RISK COMMUNICATION 23

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 24

Executive Order 12898, Environmental Justice in Minority Populations 25

Executive Order 13045, Reduce Environmental Health and Safety Risks to Children 26

Food and Drug Administration Regulations on Prescription Drug Communication 28

National Environmental Policy Act 28
Natural Resource Damage Assessment 30

Occupational Safety and Health Act 30

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act 32

Risk Management Program Rule 32

Privacy Rule 32

Other Government Inducements 33

International Standards 33

North American Standards 34

Grants 34

Summary 35

References 35

Additional Resources 35

4 CONSTRAINTS TO EFFECTIVE RISK COMMUNICATION 37

Constraints on the Communicator 37

Organizational Constraints 38

Emotional Constraints 44

Constraints from the Audience 45

Hostility and Outrage 45

Panic and Denial 48

Apathy 48

Mistrust of Risk Assessment 49

Disagreements on the Acceptable Magnitude of Risk 50

Lack of Faith in Science and Institutions 50

Learning Difficulties 51

Constraints for Both Communicator and Audience 51

Stigma 52

Stability of the Knowledge Base 52

Summary 53

References 53

Additional Resources 55

5 ETHICAL ISSUES 57

Social Ethics 58

The Sociopolitical Environment's Influence 58

The Use of the Risk Idiom 60

Fairness of the Risk 61

Consequences of Multiple Meanings 62

The Issue of Stigma 63

Organizational Ethics 63

Legitimacy of Representation 64

Designation of Primary Audience 65

Releasing Information 66

Attitude toward Compliance with Regulations 67

Personal Ethics 68

Using Persuasion 68

The Role of the Communicator 68

Organizational Ethics or Personal Ethics? 69

Summary 69

References 69

Additional Resources 70

6 PRINCIPLES OF RISK COMMUNICATION 71

Principles of Process 72

Know Your Communication Limits and Purpose 72

Whenever Possible, Pretest Your Message 73

Communicate Early, Often, and Fully 73

Remember That Perception Is Reality 74

Principles of Presentation 74

Know Your Audience 75

Do Not Limit Yourself to One Form or One Method 75

Simplify Language and Presentation, Not Content 75

Be Objective, Not Subjective 75

Communicate Honestly, Clearly, and Compassionately 76

Listen and Deal with Specific Concerns 76

Convey the Same Information to All Segments of Your Audience 77

Deal with Uncertainty 77

Principles for Comparing Risks 78

Use Analogies, but Do Not Trivialize 78

Use Ranges 79

Compare with Standards 79

Compare with Other Estimates of the Same Risk 80

Compare Traits 80

Do Not Compare Risks with Different Levels of Associated Outrage 80

Explain Reductions in Magnitude 81

Summary 81

References 81

Additional Resources 82

PART II PLANNING THE RISK COMMUNICATION EFFORT

7 DETERMINE PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES 85

Factors That Influence Purpose and Objectives 86

Legal Issues 86

Organizational Requirements 86

The Risk Itself