A primer on perceptions of risk, risk communication and building trust / Peter S. Adler, Jeremy L. Kranowitz.

Cover title.

A reading of the daily newspaper often feels like it was written by Chicken Little, with the sky falling at every turn. Headlines are filled with new diseases such as West Nile Virus and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS); the threat of terrorist attacks that could unleash biological and chemical weapons; crazed snipers in Columbus, Ohio and Washington, DC and new studies that show some everyday product causes cancer. At the same time, movie thrillers offer other risks: the threat of a meteorite crashing on Earth, of nuclear radiation causing mutations to create monsters like Godzilla, or invasions by extraterrestrials. Humans are fascinated, scared, and thrilled by catastrophe and the perceived risks. Some of the more fantastic risks, like those we see in the movies, are mainly entertainment. Others may be strictly technical issues with mutual agreement on the problem at hand and the solution to remedy it. Some risks though, such as safety and security risks and the possible erosion of civil liberties, pit one segment of society against another or even one nation against another, and may involve fundamentally different approaches by stakeholders with core values that are polar opposites. The more challenging the risk, the more difficult it is to manage. Identifying the types of demands that are faced by different prospective audiences is one of the key first steps to communicating and managing risk and building trust with the public. This paper will touch on effective diagnostic tools to help practitioners identify problems, communicate effectively, and engage the public. It is intended as a guide for those engaged in projects with potentially large impacts on the environment or to society. This is particularly true for projects that affect local communities, but may simultaneously have national repercussions. The common thread through problem identification, risk communication, and stakeholding is the element of trust. As will be noted throughout this paper, trust is difficult to create and easy to lose; once lost, it is extremely difficult to regain. If risks are identified properly and communicated effectively, those people or agencies creating risks can become an effective partner with the public. Done awkwardly or poorly, the reaction from the public can be the same as if Godzilla was approaching to destroy the town.