Risk Communication

Definition Risk communication is the interactive exchange of information and opinions concerning risk and risk- related factors among risk assessors, risk managers, and other interested parties 2

Objectives  Awareness  Understanding risks and decisions  Appropriate involvement  Trust and confidence  Effectiveness and efficiency 3

Principles  Knowing the audience  Involving the scientific experts  Involving communication experts  Being a credible source of information  Sharing responsibility  Assuring transparency  Timeliness 4

How to communicate?  Through Alerts(send messages about hazard risks)  Centralized decentralized the team  Keep human situation before communicate  Share risk list to all concern people of organization  Use db. accessible tool for data benefit.  All the risk model must be communicated to risk owners  Make mitigation plane transparent  Generate risk closure Report at the end.

Challenges/Barriers In the risk analysis process: Access to information Participation In all contexts: Differences in perceptions Differences in receptivity Lack of understanding of the scientific process The media 6

TOPIC: Ten Barriers to Risk Communication

It is interesting and useful to consider the barriers to risk communication. Barrier 1: The first serious barrier is information overload with psychological fatigue at seeing so many risks in the list.

Barrier 2: There are no risk owners and you cannot communicate to people who do not own risks, even though they are official stakeholders who have achieved success. Barrier 3: People see conflict between risk mitigation plans and project execution plans, and risks are not the primary business for them.

Barrier 4&5: Too many improvement initiatives cause people to become wary of them. Manual effort, owing to lack of proper tools in processing information, is too tiresome.

Barrier 6: The lack of risk review by senior management occurs because risks in projects are sometimes seen as local jobs. Barrier 7: Risk is common sense but risk vocabulary is not.

Barrier 8: Risk management processes have not yet been internalized and are not yet part of the organization’s DNA. Barrier 9: Too much hierarchy and too many boundaries within the organization make risk communication an arduous task.

Barrier 10: The mitigation plans need support from strategic initiatives addressing the root causes, and absence of strategic support kills the grassroots initiative.