Risk communication is an integral part of the risk analysis process and has been defined as an interactive process for exchanging information and opinions between risk evaluators, risk managers and other interested parties.
Risk communication is the process by which information and opinions regarding hazards and risks are gathered from potentially affected and interested parties, and by which the results of the risk assessment and proposed risk management measures are communicated to the decision makers and interested parties in the importing and exporting countries.
Risk communication is a multidimensional and iterative process that should ideally begin at the start of the risk analysis and continue throughout
Goals …show more content…
The text must be clear, concise, unambiguous and comprehensible to any reasonably educated lay person, whether or not they have scientific knowledge.
Most countries (13 countries, 93%) state that they produce a detailed report of the risk analysis process, as well as an executive summary. Eight countries (57%) also produce a report for the general public
Risk communication activities have different objectives. In some cases, risk communication efforts seek to inform audiences about a particular risk in order to influence risk decisions. In others, the goal is to influence message recipients to undertake some specific action with respect to the risk—for example, to evacuate in the face of an immediate threat, purchase insurance, or retrofit a home (Covello, et al., 1987;
Morgan and Lave, 1990). Some risk communication efforts center on trying to make a particular risk more salient to audiences and to make them more concerned. Other risk communication efforts may try to calm audiences down and address their concerns in order to limit unnecessary or unrealistic fears about a particular threat. The lastmentioned type of risk communication challenge is probably best illustrated by the