Four questions for risk communication

Abstract

Over the past nearly 30 years, a flood of work on risk communication initiatives and analyses has appeared. And yet the practice of risk communication by corporations, federal agencies, and ideal government in many respect seem little changed from practice decades ago. The time is overdue to address some tough questions for the architects and craftsmen who shape and implement the practice of risk communication. This retrospective proceeds with four major questions:

1. What major successes and failures can we point to that shed light on what has been learned and not learned since the 1989 NRC report?

2. Assessing and communicating uncertainty often befuddles decision-makers and risk managers. How are these needs handled, and how well, in current practice and analysis? How can we do better?

3. While risks are an inescapable part of the governance and democratic process, the reservoir of social trust is and has been in long-term decline. How successfully is declining trust handled in risk governance processes?

4. Can the lessons learned and answers to the above be translated into a new list of principles for risk communication going forward?

We take up these four questions in sequence.

Keywords:

• risk
• hazard
• communication
• trust
• uncertainty