electricland

A while ago I took Mad Cows and Mother's Milk: The Perils of Poor Risk Communication out of the library. I didn't find it tremendously riveting -- it's mainly case studies of risk communication failures, which is interesting, but after a bit they all started to sound the same. I did appreciate chapter 2, though, "A Diagnostic for Risk Communication Failures". I presented the main points at our last editorial meeting, where they went over well -- especially the diagram of "expert" vs. "public" perception of risk, which lays out very clearly our role as communicators.

Anyway, as a result one of my colleagues just sent me this column on risk communication, which I haven't read all the way through yet, but which has some good snappy stuff in it. For instance:

Again and again, I find that my clients have an unarticulated mental model of the ideal public: uninterested and uninvolved unless told to do something, then blindly obedient. The typical factory management wants its employees to follow the prescribed precautions and pay attention at safety trainings and drills, but not to ask awkward questions about why the flare looked strange yesterday or what’s in the solvent that smells different. It wants its neighbors to be as apathetic as possible about possible plant hazards, but still poised to evacuate or shelter-in-place or do whatever they’re told to do if something bad actually happens. Similarly, the local health department wants everybody to use DEET and get rid of old tires and other potential breeding grounds for mosquitoes — all without getting unduly exercised about West Nile Virus and demanding a more active (or less active) spraying program. And the Department of Homeland Security wants Americans to pack their go kits and call an 800 number if they see anything suspicious — but not to criticize the precautions that have and haven’t been taken at airports, stadiums, power plants, and other potential targets.

In other words, risk managers want a public that is simultaneously paying no attention and ready to act. This weird combination of apathy and risk tolerance on the one hand, preparedness and obedience to precautions on the other, simply can’t be achieved.

(In short, this is mainly a bookmark for me, but some of you may enjoy it as well.)