Approaches to Risk Communication

There are several general statements that can be made regarding the general perception of risk. These are summarized as follows  

Voluntary risks are accepted more readily than those that are imposed Risks under individual control are accepted more readily that those under government control 

Risks that seem fair are more acceptable than those that seem unfair 

We have already discussed the first of these points. The second point relates to the controllability of the risk. As shown on figure 9.1, risk associated with over-the-counter drugs like aspirin, antibiotics, and oral contraceptives will be more accepted than those associated with air pollution, pesticides, or electric fields because we have more control over the former. Even if the risks are identical, the ability to control our exposure to some degree makes the risk seem lower. This is one reason why reports like those discussed in chapter 2 for Alar, a plant growth regulator formerly used on apples, lead to concern over possible risks. The use of Alar on apples was allowed under United States regulations, which is considered less tolerable than if the decision were made by the general public to allow its use on apples. 

The fourth point listed above is that risk information that comes from trustworthy sources is more readily believed than information from untrustworthy sources. This is often overlooked, but can have important consequences to risk management decisions. Reports have been published that indicate various disciplines and authority figures are associated with different levels of trust. These are summarized below as they relate to environmental issues  

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Rowan, K.E. 1994. Why rules for risk communication are not enough A problem-solving approach to risk communication. Risk Anal. 14(3) 365-374. 

A better approach to resolve community concern is to move forward and follow the systematic procedure to first identify the hazard, evaluate its scope, assess the risks posed, and then develop an appropriate response. 

Each hazard classification and communication system (workplace, consumer, transport) begins coverage with an assessment of the hazards posed by the chemical or chemical product involved. The degree of its capacity to harm depends on its intrinsic properties, i.e. its capacity to interfere with normal biological processes, and its capacity to bum, explode, corrode, etc. This is based primarily on a review of the scientific studies available. The concept of risk or the likelihood of harm occurring, and subsequently communication of that information, is introduced when exposure is considered in conjunction with the data regarding potential hazards. The basic approach to risk assessment is characterized by the simple formula ... 

Developing an objective approach to risk management is as much about the language we use as it is the processes we put in place. Those who have the authority to undertake a safety assessment have a responsibility to wield that power carefully and shrewdly and this can quickly be undermined when one resorts to emotive and reactive language. This is as true for the language of the safety case as it is in the corridor conversations with colleagues. Those who operate in CRM have a duty to propagate objectivity by example and to communicate in a way that drives a safety culture which is not rash but considered. 

Abstract. The trend to compose real time systems with standard IT known from conventional office domains results in heterogeneous technical environments. Examples are modern industrial process automation networks. It is a challenging task, because of potential impacts of security incidents to the system safety. For example, robot control rmits could be manipulated by malicious codes. The term risk communication is introduced, to describe alarm communication in hmnan-machine interaction scenarios. User adapted risk communication between humans and industrial automation systems, including home robotics, can prevent hazards and/or threats to the entire system safety and security. Current safety and security risk communication standards are compared to examine the adequacy for our uniform approach. This paper focuses on alarm system standards in the industrial process automation domain and intrusion detection systems from the conventional desktop IT domain. A uniform model based approach for risk communication in distributed IT enviromnents is introduced. 

The paper is structured as follows in Section 2 a short overview and a comparison of state of the art of standards for risk communication in the safety and security domain are illustrated. Furthermore, selected approaches are described regarding their contributions to our uniform approach. Section 3 describes the uniform approach for risk communication in heterogeneous domains. Section 4 concludes the paper and shows future prospects. 

Furthermore, in the future, our generic approach for risk communication in heterogeneous systems with safety and security requirements has to be specified and evaluated. Practical implementations on selected heterogeneous systems are planed. Exemplary systems are service robots, which manoeuvre in an environment with different obstacles and interact with persons and other technical devices. Safety and security incidents, including interdependencies, should be simulated. On the basis of our model, user specific alarm and warning messages should be generated. 

HSE 2001). This is partly attributed to risk communication approaches. The pubhc responses to risks can be amplified or reduced depending on how risk communication interacts with psychological, social, cultural, and institutional processes (HSE 2001). These and other issues have been the subject of risk communication studies. 

EPA research investments since 1995 in pesticide exposure and risk assessment methods have helped pioneer novel approaches to quantify risk levels. A team at the University of Washington s School of Public Health and Community Medicine found that 2-5 year olds consuming predominantly organic foods over a 3-day period had 8.5-fold lower mean levels of OP insecticide metabolites in their urine than children eating mosdy conventional (unlabeled) foods (Curl et al., 2003). The study was carefully designed to minimize potentially... 

This presentation addresses tissue engineering and how it relates to biomaterials and medical devices. Consideration is given to risk analysis and risk management in tissue engineering, and current proposals are discussed for an approach to the regulation of tissue engineering products and regulatory processes in the European Union. EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EUROPEAN UNION UK WESTERN EUROPE... 

EMEA The European Risk Management Strategy (ERMS) aims to provide a more coherent approach to the detection, assessment, minimization and communication of risks of medicines in Europe. This should lead to a more proactive approach to safety monitoring of medicines throughout their life-cycle. ... 

This hook focuses on learning lessons from incidents to lower the risk of future major incidents. It is important to use a structured approach to incident investigation that huilds on proven and recognized techniques this makes it easier to develop consistent understanding from incidents and to communicate insights and results from investigations effectively. 

Probabilistic techniqnes are relatively new in the pesticides arena and are prone to criticism and debate. It is therefore especially important to clearly communicate the approach taken, and to explain to decision makers how the risk estimates were quantified. 

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