As scientists we collect environmental data, analyse and risk calculate to determine exposure risk for a particular endpoint. With emerging contaminants, the challenges posed to making clear, informed decisions that relate to risks posed by site contamination are nominally determined in the absence of available risk criteria. So how does one communicate the complexities of emerging contaminants in our environment that pose risk to public health and safety?
With a new Covid world, at a macro scale we have seen how uncertainty of “the unknown” has brought fear, disruption and trauma to people across the globe. Public response to the uncertainty of risk posed by emerging contaminants is not dissimilar. Time after time, the unanswerable question received by the public when communicating risk associated with any emerging environmental contaminant is - am I safe?
There are many benefits to community engagement and risk communication. Early engagement is an essential component to achieving effective engagement. Understanding your stakeholders and using the right communication tools to engage are just as critical as the quality of the data. Additionally, as society and individuals adapt to the digital times, it’s essential that scientists, engineers and practitioners consider how to best embrace digital evolution for effective risk communication with the public.
Simply syndicating information without regard for the complexities and uncertainties of a site contamination matter is likely to result in poor risk communication. Understanding how an impacted community or individual perceives risk will form an essential part to any communication engagement strategy. This will greatly assist with anticipating response to decision making for the environment, land and property, and fundamentally public health and safety. The loss of communication control during an assessment or remediation programme can be costly; the greatest expense being the community’s response potentially resulting in a crisis, class actions, or most importantly distrust.
During this session, we will navigate three key principles to achieving effective engagement that should form the basis of any risk communication plan when tackling challenges faced by emerging contaminants.