Planning Risk communication effort Determine purpose and objectives analyze the audience determine the proper method set a schedule pull all these pieces together

1. RISK
COMMUNICATIO
N EFFORT
JOAN LETTING

3. To plan a risk communication effort, whether a one-time
message or a variety of messages for a variety of audiences over
a longer time, you need to:
a)determine your purpose and objectives
b) analyze your audience,
c)develop your message,
d)determine the proper method,
e)set a schedule, and
f) pull all these pieces together into a comprehensive plan.

4. Determine Purpose And Objectives
When communicating risk, consider two variables:
a) Why you are communicating the risk (purpose)
b) What you hope to gain by it (objective).

5. • Purpose
•The purpose is a general
statement.
•• It answers “why” questions:
•- Why are we communicating?
•- Why are we educating this
group?
•- Why are we trying to build
consensus?

6. Objectives
Objectives are statements of specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic and time bound details to be
accomplished. SMART
Objectives often answer “how” questions:
• How will we communicate?
• How often will we communicate?
• How many messages will we use?

7. For example,
if your purpose is to reduce the Covid-19 infections,
one of the objective is to have 100 percent of your audience to
observe the public health protocols.
After determining the purpose and objectives,
 formalize them by writing them down and
 get concurrence from all those involved in the project, as high
up in the organization as you can.

8. Why do you need a formal agreement?
Because it:
 gives everyone a common ground on which to build
 lets upper management know why you are doing
what you are doing
 gives you a yardstick for measuring success.

9. Factors that Influence Purpose and Objectives
• Legal issues
• Organizational requirements
• Risk itself
• Audience requirements

10. Legal Issues
Legal Issues
• Several legal issues may influence your choice of purpose and objectives.
• Many government agencies have policies regarding how risk communication will
be conducted or how the public will be involved in risk management decisions.
Chief among these are the laws that may dictate your risk communication efforts.
(Public Health Act, NEMA.KEBS, CAK,CMA, MCK, Pharmacy and Poisons Board)
• • These kinds of requirements must be considered when planning a risk
communication
effort because they generally provide guidance and sometimes specify activities that
must be conducted.
• If the purpose and objectives of risk communication efforts that fall under these
legal
requirements differ from what is specified, special arrangements such as legal
waivers or

11. Organizational Requirements
• Org. requirements and policies regarding the
communication of risk, involvement of the public, the
release of info and dev. Of comm vehicles and processes
also need to be considered.
• Eg, do they feel that the only proper purpose for
communication efforts is to advertise the org. or otherwise
make it good? Is one of their jobs the dissemination of info
to key political figures who might influence the future of the
organization?

12. The Risk Itself
Your risk communication efforts will probably fall into
one of the three categories:
• Care communication (for situations in which the risk
is no longer in doubt),
• Consensus communication (for situations in which
the audience will help assess and/or manage the
risk),
• Crisis communication (for an immediate risk).
• Each has its own requirements for communication.

13. Crisis Communication
• Relates to those risks brought about by an emergency: a
chemical plant fire, an earthquake.
• AIDS 'Grim Reaper' Ad Campaign (1987)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSmaWEK_rD4
• BREAKING NEWS: First case of Coronavirus reported in
Kenya
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86DwogG_Nhw

14. Crisis Communication cont…
• In these situations, there is no time to develop advisory groups
to assess ways of dealing with the risk (although such groups
may have been involved in the emergency planning process
long before the actual crisis).
• The purpose of crisis communication is to alert your audience
to the danger and provide alternatives to minimize the risk.

15. Care Communication
• Include the risks from using tobacco, contracting the AIDS virus, and
failing to wear protective clothing when handling hazardous materials in
the workplace.
• Condom advert-Kenya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTfpWrG51ms
Most experts agree that these risks are dangerous to human health
(although they may disagree about the magnitude or specific exposure
routes).
• When communicating about these risks, it may not be necessary to
review the possible dangers, which are usually recognized.
• The purpose, then, is to alert your audience and provide information that
will encourage them to change to less risky behaviors.

16. Consensus Communication
• Involves risks in which the audience and the decision
maker must reach an agreement over how the risk will
be assessed or managed.
• Examples include operation of a hazardous waste
incinerator, siting of electrical power transmission lines.
• Often, no consensus has been reached about what
constitutes safe or dangerous levels of exposure or
about the acceptability of the risk to those affected by it.
• The purpose of risk communication in such cases is to
build consensus as a basis for making a risk
management decision.

17. Also consider Newness and Visibility of risk
• If the risk is relatively new and not very visible(how risky it
seems), you will have to first raise awareness before you can
communicate more technical information, encourage behavior
changes, or build consensus.
• If this risk is something that has been discussed for years and
has been visible for sometime, the audience maybe apathetic,
and you may have to find new ways to awaken audience interest
and concern.
• You might use new information to pique audience interest or
present the older information in relation to something your
audience is now concerned about.

18. Newness and Visibility…
• If this risk is relatively new and highly visible, you may
have to deal with fear and hostility before effective risk
communication can take place.
• Begin by acknowledging and addressing audience
concerns so that the audience can move beyond the
fear and hostility to understanding the risk itself.

20. Audience Requirements
What the audience wants from you should be among
the first things you consider in determining your purpose
and objectives.
•For care communication, your audience generally wants
to know about any risks that would prevent their living a
good life (enjoyable, long, and worry free) and about
how they can minimize those risks.

21. Audience Requirements Cont…
• For consensus communication, your audience generally wants
to contribute to a decision about how to assess and manage
the risk.
• For crisis communication, your audience generally wants to
learn how to minimize their risk as quickly as possible.
However, after the crisis is over, they may want to know more
about how it began.