Week 13: Risk Assessment and Communication Flashcards
Define risk and risk assessment.
Risk: probability that some adverse event will occur
Risk assessment: stepwise process of organizing information on a hazard/agent
Ultimate goals: inform decisions about risk management/reduction, prevent increased population risk
What are questions associated with each step for risk assessment?
Step 1: problem formulation
What adverse health effects are associated with the given environmental conditions in the population of interest?
What policy and other risk management options exist to reduce risk of health effects?
What types of analysis are necessary to evaluate these risk management options
Step 2: hazard identification
What adverse health effects are associated with the environmental contaminant of concern?
Step 3: dose-response assessment
What is the relationship between dose of the contaminant and the probability of adverse health effects?
Step 4: exposure assessment
What are the current exposures or doses of the contaminant in the populations of interest?
Step 5: risk characterization
What is the nature and magnitude of risk to human health from the contaminant in the population of interest, and what are the main uncertainties associated with this risk?
What are 4 details about risk and risk assessments?
Disease risk affected by many factors (e.g., environment, genetics, behavior, lifestyle, socio-economic/race, psychosocial, life stage)
These combine to form baseline risk of a population, (e.g., 1 in 3 baseline lifetime risk of cancer in U.S. population [American Cancer Society 2014])
Env. risk assessment goal: measure, prevent incremental risk
Also included in larger health, env. impact assessments
What are 4 details about risk assessment history?
Formal methods for assessing radiation risk emerged after WWII in nuclear & aerospace fields (Wilson 2012)
1950-1970: growing awareness of harmful chemicals in environment & their potential impact on health
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) popularized concern about long-term, low-dose chemical exposures, e.g., DDT
New env. laws, U.S. EPA created; U.S. FDA experience w/thal-idomide, saccharin showed need for formal RA procedures
1983: U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS), Red Book (Risk Assessment in the Federal Government)
formalized 4-step RA process; risk management a separate process; influenced WHO, European Union, other RA policies
NAS reports on cumulative RA, toxicity testing, science and decisions (“Silver Book”) strengthened RA science
What are the 5 steps for risk assessment?
Step 1: problem formulation
Step 2: hazard identification
Step 3: dose-response assessment
Step 4: exposure assessment
Step 5: risk characterization
What are 4 questions associated with risk management?
Taking into account the findings of risk characterization, what are the main risk management options?
How does each policy option address the problem, given acceptable level of risk, net cost and benefits, ease of implementation, legal and other factors?
What is the best policy option?
How should this decision be communicated to the population of interest?
What are 4 details about communication?
Communication central to env. (and all public) health
Trend in U.S. towards enabling right to know:
workplace: OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard – workers entitled to know hazards, employers must inform/train
communities: Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) – companies w/hazardous chemicals on premises (above certain amount) must inform state/local authorities; companies (above certain size) must submit publicly-available toxic chemicals release report to EPA
Safe Drinking Water Act: drinking water systems must issue annual Consumer Confidence Reports w/contaminant concs.
But, providing info. ≠ communicating: dialogue, personal engagement needed for people to assimilate info
Social marketing, risk communication are foundations
What are 4 details about risk management and communication?
Risk management = process of identifying, evaluating, prioritizing, and choosing among policy options
Since Red Book, separate from RA; based on RA scien-tific findings but incorp. nonscience factors (e.g., cost)
For each policy option, factors examined could include:
acceptable level of risk (level society willing to accept)
existing legislation
economic costs and benefits
administrative considerations (e.g., complexity, cost)
stakeholder perceptions
Risk communication/information exchange/stakeholder involvement important throughout RA/RM process
What are 2 details about communication and social marketing?
Spreading important ideas – simple formula (heuristic):
simple, clear messages: developed specifically to help people understand and appropriately simplify the issue
message repetition: increases persuasiveness cognitively (increases info. availability), affectively (incr. positive feelings)
trusted messengers: trust most important in effective comm.
build comm. team: incl. social scientist, comm. professional
Social marketing (i.e., using marketing methods to promote behavior change for benefit of people, society [Maibach et al. 2002]); make the behavior:
easy: eliminate/reduce barriers (McKenzie-Mohr 2011)
fun (and deliver benefits at same time as costs incurred)
popular: descriptively normative (most people like me do it), injunctively normative (people important to me approve)
What are the 4 models of risk communication?
Risk Perception Model: paradox that risks that harm people are often not the ones that concern/worry/upset them
Mental Noise Model: when people are stressed, upset, ability to process info impaired by mental noise (Covello 2006, 2011)
Negative Dominance Model: negative info greater weight than positive (Kahneman 2011; others); loss aversion concept
Trust Determination Model: trust single most impt thing, required before all else; built over long periods; easily lost
What are 2 challenges to effective risk communication?
Skilled spokesperson/risk communicator and comprehensive risk and crisis communication plan help offset selective/biased media coverage,
Complex of psychological, sociological, cultural factors leading to misperceptions, misunderstandings about risk (e.g., overconfidence, confirmatory bias)
What are 8 tips for overcoming barriers in risk communication?
Anticipate questions commonly asked, and prepare answers in advance—an especially important approach in the setting of an emergency or crisis
Develop only a limited number of key messages (ideally three key messages or one key message with three parts) that address the concerns of key stakeholders. It is useful to create a message map—a succinct but detailed, hierarchically organized “package” of information that addresses key stakeholder needs (see, e.g., Covello 2006; Covello et al 2007)
Develop messages that are clearly understandable by the target audience, typically at or below their average reading grade level (see, for example, CDC’s Plain English Thesaurus for Health Communications (CDC 2007)
Adhere to the “primacy/recency” or “first/last” principle by putting the most important messages in the first and last position in lists
Cite credible third parties that support or can corroborate key messages
Provide information that indicates genuine empathy, listening, caring and compassion.
Use graphics, visual aids, analogies and narratives (such as personal stories)
Balance negative information with positive, constructive or solution-oriented messages.
What are 2 details about environmental risk communication?
Primary objectives: inform/educate people, build/strengthen/repair trust, encourage appropriate action
Risk perception: research reveals influencing factors (Slovic 1987); intensify, diminish perception (social amplification, attenuation of risk (Kasperson et al. 1987)
What are the EPA’s 7 cardinal rules for effective risk communication?
People have right to a voice/participation in decisions
Plan and tailor strategies to goals, audiences, comm. channels
Listen to your audience
Be honest and transparent (key to est. trust and credibility)
Collaborate with credible sources, trusted voices
Plan for media influence
Speak clearly, w/compassion; avoid technical language, jargon
What are 3 details about communicating during and after a major environmental disaster?
Examples of major disasters: BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill, 2010; Fukushima nuclear power plant meltdown, 2011
Strong feelings affecting ability to process information: anxiety and distress; anger; misery, depression, empathy for victims; disappointment and betrayal
Research shows effective approaches (Tinker et al. 2012)
clear, specific, prioritized instructions and action items that convey a sense of self-efficacy and concrete things to do (e.g., info on how to detect and measure environmental risks)
clear, jargon-free, authoritative language from trusted sources
want to know children, vulnerable populations are safe
benchmarks/comparisons useful (e.g., background levels)
What are 12 risk communication plan elements?
Identify all anticipated environmental scenarios for which risk, crisis, and emergency communication plans are needed, including worst cases and low probability, high consequence events
Describe and designate staff roles and responsibilities for different risk, crisis, or emergency scenarios
Designate who in the organization is responsible and accountable for leading the crisis or emergency response
Designate who needs to be informed about what is taking place
Designate who needs to be consulted during the process
Designate who will be the lead communication spokesperson and backup for different scenarios
Regularly update and check partner contact lists
Identify subject-matter experts willing to collaborate during an emergency and develop and test contact lists; know their perspectives in advance
Identify target audiences
Identify preferred communication methods for public, key stakeholders, and partners
Include messages for core, informational, and challenge questions
Include procedures for evaluating, revising, and updating the risk and crisis communication plan on a regular basis
