ML21250A233

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Risk Communication: Public Outreach on Radiation Health Risk Studies
ML21250A233
Person / Time
Issue date: 08/26/2021
From: Terry Brock
NRC/RES/DSA
To:
Brock, Teerry - 301 415 1793
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Download: ML21250A233 (45)
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Risk Communication:

Public Outreach on Radiation Health Risk Studies 251

Outline

  • Introduction
  • What is Risk Communication?
  • Why is Risk Communication Important?
  • Stakeholders
  • Building Trust and Credibility
  • Messaging
  • Risk Communication in Action
  • Communicating Epidemiology 252

Todays schedule 10:00 - 11:30 Risk Communication Dr. Paul Locke (90 min) 11:30 - 12:30 LUNCH (60 min) 12:30 - 1:30 Risk Communication Dr. Paul Locke (60 min) 1:30 - 1:45 BREAK (15 min) 1:45 - 2:45 Group exercise (Role Play) (60 min) 2:45 - 3:15 Discussion on Role Play Exercise Dr. Paul Locke (30 min) 3:15 - 3:30 BREAK (15 min) 3:30 - 4:15 Class Discussion Dr. Paul Locke (45 min) 4:15 - 4:30 Course Evaluation and Wrap-up (15 min) 253

INTRODUCTION 254

WHAT IS RISK COMMUNICATION?

255

What is Risk?

  • Risk = Hazard + Outrage

- Hazard is an act or phenomenon posing potential harm to someone or something

  • technical component of risk
  • probability and magnitude

- Outrage is a function of how the risk is perceived and is dependent upon:

  • Voluntariness
  • Control
  • Responsiveness
  • Trust

Hazard - Risk from Radon in Homes National Research Council, BEIR VI (1988) 257

Outrage 258

Defining Risk Communication

  • An interactive process of exchange of information and opinion among individuals, groups, and institutions;
  • Often involves multiple messages about the nature of risk, or expressing concerns, opinions, or reactions to risk messages or to legal or institutional arrangements for risk management.

National Research Council, Improving Risk Communication (1989) 259

Defining Risk Communication - Key Phrases

  • Interactive process

- A two way street

- Audience and messenger

  • Exchange of information and opinion

- Message delivery

- Message content

  • Multiple messages

- Complementarity and competition

  • Expressing concerns, opinions, or reactions

- Behavior change

- Institutional or individual action(s) 260

WHY IS RISK COMMUNICATION IMPORTANT?

261 261

Some Purposes for Risk Communication

  • Providing information
  • Gathering information
  • Trust building
  • Seeking stakeholder involvement
  • Trying to influence behavior 262

What Else Can Risk Communication Do?

  • Risk communication explains actions of public health agencies

- Routine actions - NRC regulations, NUREGs

- Emergencies - Fukushima, Virginia earthquake

  • Risk information can assist stakeholders in decision making
  • Risk communication can structure a dialogue 263

Why Risk Communication is a Priority for NRC?

Risk communication provides the essential links between risk analysis, risk management, and the public. Successful completion of the NRC mission requires integration among each of these areas regarding values and assumptions, technical information, and decisions.

USNRC, Effective Risk Communication: The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Guidelines for External Risk Communication 264

STAKEHOLDERS 265

Types of Stakeholders

  • External Stakeholders

- Organizations

  • International or national organizations
  • Regional or local organizations
  • Religious, social justice organizations
  • Other agencies (state and federal)

- Individuals

  • Media - print, radio, electronic
  • Others 266

A Clash of Cultures?

267

Special situations

  • Working with the media

- Right vs. wrong

- Science vs. superstition

  • Dealing with controversy or anger

- Directed at NRC

- Directed at you

  • Outliers 268

BUILDING TRUST AND CREDIBILITY:

SOME SIMPLE RULES 269

Basic Principles

  • Establish a fair process
  • Create an equitable environment
  • Be honest, open and empathetic
  • Listen first, rephrase and repeat
  • Encourage discussion and questions 270

Damaging Your Credibility

  • Lecturing
  • Ignoring the public
  • Disregarding suggestions and concerns
  • Becoming defensive
  • Hiding information or failure to disclose
  • Not fulfilling commitments
  • Taking sides
  • Relying on jargon
  • Criticizing personal behavior 271

272 MESSAGING:

DELIVERING INFORMATION 273

Risk Communication is a Social Process

  • Audience

- How large?

- Mix of stakeholders

  • Message

- Understand a hazard

- Take action (risk reduction steps)

- Explain actions of NRC

  • Messenger (your team)
  • Medium

- Public meeting

- Radio or video 274

Risk Communication Must Be:

  • Consistent
  • Accurate
  • Timely
  • Clear
  • Convey confidence in its validity
  • Explain what people must do 275

Humans Dont Relate to Risk Solely on the Basis of Facts

  • Other factors are important, including:

- Familiarity

- Trust

- Choice

- Control

- Acuteness 276

Risk Communication Messaging -- Emergencies Mayor Rudolf Giuliani, 9/11/2001 Covellos rules people under stress typically want to know that you care before they care about what you know; http://www.youtube.com people under stress typically have

/watch?v=6vCg8Fp8aw difficulty hearing, understanding, and 8 remembering information; people under stress typically focus more on negative information than positive information.

277

RISK COMMUNICATION IN ACTION:

KEY PRACTICE CONCEPTS 278

NRC Concept of Risk

  • What can go wrong?
  • How likely is it?
  • What are the consequences?

279

Questions You Might Hear

  • Is it safe?

- What is NRC doing to assure safety?

- How will NRC let us know if something isnt safe?

- What should we do if an accident or emergency occurs?

  • How does NRC evaluate risk?
  • What happens when an accident occurs?

- Are mistakes punished by the NRC?

- What does NRC do to make sure that the accident doesnt happen again?

280

Where Am I?

Hazard and Outrage (Again) high Hazard low low high Outrage 281

Who Is Being Protected?

Nero, Estimated Risk of Lung Cancer from Exposure to Radon Decay Products in U.S. Homes: A Brief Review. Atmospheric Environment 22 (10): 2205 - 11 (1988) 282

NCRP Report 160 - Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States Category of Exposure (exposure in mSv)* Early 1980s 2006 BACKGROUND 3.0 3.11 BACKGROUND FROM RADON AND THORON 2.0 2.28 MEDICAL .53 3.0 OCCUPATIONAL/INDUSTRIAL .010 .008 CONSUMER .05 - .13 .13 EFFECTIVE DOSE PER INDIVIDUAL 3.6 6.2

  • Effective dose per individual in the US population.

283

Tips for Communicating

  • Explain NRC approach
  • Demystify technical terms
  • Translate technical information
  • Stories work better than statistics

- Personal examples

- Humanize issues whenever possible 284

Communicating Hazard

  • Understand the technical components

- Population risk

- Individual risk

- Subpopulations (if any) at risk

- Exposure and dose-response

- Effectiveness of mitigating actions

  • Avoid jargon
  • Structure a conversation, if possible 285

Know the Audience

  • Diversity in background and opinions

- Educational level

- Ethnic, gender, cultural diversity, age

- Interest in issue

  • Who benefits from the status quo? Why?
  • Who benefits from a change? Why?

286

Focus on Action

  • Provide action steps:

- That NRC is taking

- That are being taken by others, and/or

- That can be taken by individuals

  • Explain action steps in terms of disease avoidance or health improvement, if possible
  • Provide source for follow up 287

COMMUNICATING EPIDEMIOLOGY 288

How does NRC use epidemiology?

  • Direct approach

- Answer questions from public (e.g., relicensing)

- Assist in emergency planning

  • Indirect approach

- Consensus documents from NCRP, ICRP, NAS

- Standard setting and consequence analysis

  • Weight of evidence

- epidemiology is one input into decision-making 289

Key points to share about epidemiology

  • Epidemiology = study of diseases in human populations

- Natural experiments

- Use statistics, other methods, to separate signal from noise

  • Sometimes like looking through translucent glass
  • Consistency matters

- Same effect across several studies (and dose/response)

- Plausible biological model supports finding 290

Epidemiology and communication Who is this? a. The next NRC commissioner

b. William Daley
c. Chester A. Arthur
d. What a Cubs fan looked like when they last won the pennant
e. None of the above 291

292 Developmental Stages of Risk Management (Baruch Fischoff)

  • All we have to do is

- Get the numbers right

- Tell them the numbers

- Explain what the numbers mean

- Show them they have accepted similar risks in the past

- Show them its a good deal

- Treat them nice

- Make them partners

- ALL OF THE ABOVE 293

CASE STUDY 294

References and Resources

1. USNRC, Effective Risk Communication: The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Guidelines for External Risk Communication (NUREG BR/0308) (available at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/brochures/br0308/ )
2. USNRC, Developing an Emergency Risk Communication (ERC)/Joint Information Center (JIC) Plan for A Radiological Emergency, (NUREG/CR-7032) February 2011, (available at badupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1104/ML110490119.pdf)
3. National Research Council, Improving Risk Communication, National Academy Press, 1989 (available at http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1189)
4. Proceedings from the 2010 National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) Annual Meeting - published in the November 2011 issue of Health Physics (Volume 101, Issue 5)
5. Deborah Mayo and Rachelle Hollander (eds.), Acceptable Evidence: Science and Values in Risk Management, Oxford University Press, 1991.

295

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