Risk Communications for Disaster Response in

an increasingly Wired World

What communicators need to know and do

Christine Clark Lafleur

“Establishing a National CBRNE Training Program for Health, Psychosocial and Communications

Professions”

Understanding and implementing Risk Communication can help provide the principles, structures and tools to provide vital and effective information required by individuals, stakeholders, and entire communities to help mobilize and enact the best possible decisions during a major public disaster or emergency event.

Emergence of Risk Communications in Disaster Response

Crisis Communication is most often used to describe an organization facing a crisis and the need to communicate about that crisis to its internal and external stakeholders including the news media and the public.

Risk communication, is different from crisis communications in that the communications’ focus is to provide the receiver with information about the expected type (good or bad) and magnitude (weak or strong) of an outcome from a behavior or exposure.

What , Why Risk Communication

Actions, words, and other interactions that incorporate and respect the perceptions of the information recipients, intended to help people make more informed decisions about threats to their health and safety.

This definition emphasizes that:

➠ Risk communication is a matter of what an organization does, not just what it says.

➠ Risk communication must account for the affective component in peoples perceptions of risk.

➠ Risk communication will be more effective if it is thought of as dialogue, not instruction. It will be more successful if the goal is to encourage certain behaviors, not simply to expect that the information recipients will think and do what the communicators want them to.

This approach recognizes findings in the fields of neuroscience and psychology which have established that the perception of risk is a dual process of fact and feeling. Individually and collectively as a community we use the information we have and a set of instincts which help us gauge how frightening something feels.

What is Risk Communications

Any purposeful exchange of information about risk or perceptions about risk

Any public or private communication that informs individuals about the existence, nature, form, severity, or acceptability of risk

Practical concepts of risk communication

– Perception = Reality

– Communication = Skill

– Goal = Trust + Credibility

More … What is Risk Communications

• Enhance knowledge and understanding• Build trust and credibility• Encourage appropriate attitudes,

behaviours & beliefs

High concern situations change the rules of communication (i.e., message noise theory, negative dominance theory, risk perception theory, public outrage theory.)

Risk Communications Goals

Effective application of Risk Communications principles and applications:• Can help create a communications

environment based on trust and credibility – • Produce an informed audience that is

involved, interested, reasonable, thoughtful, solution-oriented, and collaborative –

• Build confidence in your agency’s professionalism, commitment and expertise

Value of Effective Risk Communications

Module 1: Introduction to Risk Communication

Learning Objectives: understand the distinction between crisis and risk communications; recognize risk communications as an emerging field and resource; recognize and identify the role of risk communications in a disaster/crisis situation; begin to apply risk communications principles and tactics to assist response and mitigate negative impact

The Role of Communication in Disaster Message noise theory, Negative dominance theory, Risk

perception theory, Public outrage theory Principles and Goals of Risk Communications Background, Thought leaders and New Developments in risk

communications Crisis & Emergency Risk Communication Lifecycle

Module 2: Psychology of a Disaster

Learning Objectives: recognize, respond to and mitigate the distinct human characteristics of disaster/crisis situation to assist response and mitigate negative impact

Human Behavior in an Emergency – Macro (community /collective) & Micro (self) Perspectives

Human Psychology During a Crisis - Macro (community /collective) & Micro (self) Perspectives

Understanding Concepts of Death and Grief

When Every Word Matters – semantics, messages and message impact

Cultural Considerations

Learning Objectives: recognize and identify the role of individual responders in a disaster/crisis situation; pre-condition and understand roles, reporting lines and authorities of different public agencies in disaster / crisis situation; command centre authorities; begin to assess and apply risk communications principles and tactics to assist response and mitigate negative impact

• Every Disaster is Different

• Command Centre

• Roles of Public Agencies – Federal, Provincial, Municipal 

• Public Health  

• Regulatory Agencies 

• First Responders – Police, Fire & Emergency Services

• News Media

• New Media Frontier

Module 3: Roles, Systems & Structures

Module 4: Role & Impact of News Media and Social Media during a Disaster

Learning Objectives: recognize and identify the role of new media and the evolving role of traditional media vis a vis public safety and disaster response; recognize pre-preparedness activities and actions

• Shift from traditional news channels to new media

• Evolving impact and dominance

• New media channels – what they are, when/what to use , dashboards, push, instagram, twitter

• Credible networks

• Building presence and networks inadvance

Learning Objectives: recognize and identify the aspects of effective public messaging –components, requirements and characteristics; recognize and apply principles, tools and templates

• Disaster Crisis communications life cycle

• Instructional Messages

• Message Mapping

• Responding to news media in a newly wired world

• News updates, News Conferences, News Releases

• Credible & Spokesperson(s)

• Key principles

• Tool kit

Module 5: Messages and Messaging before, during and after a Disaster or Crisis

Learning Objectives: Application and experiential opportunity; use of value adds (e-games, dashboard)

Scenario #1 – E-game : participate in public health disaster

Scenario #2 – Assign role as lead communicator for provincial Public Health Agency; using dashboard results develop a response plan and communication deliverables

Scenario #3 – Assign role as blogger – create a mischief plan to disrupt the efforts of emergency responders dispatched to furnace malfunction at Cameco, Port Hope

Module 6: Scenario Assessment

• Best practice and literature search (estimate 20 hours to complete research )

• Course development – work book and resource materials (estimate 30 hours)

• Field search – who /what else is out there as education/ course offering and how does it compare? (estimate 10 hours)

What next?

Team support required:• Psychosocial component – support • Scenario component – identify • Support for Introduction and access to

value adds – dashboard, e-games, network of experts

• Course Marketing • Course Delivery

All for one and one for all … initial assessment