Communicating occupational and environmental issues

Effective health risk communication is an important tool that can prevent or modify the inappropriate public reactions that often accompany occupational and environmental health issues and allegations. The public perception of the magnitude or significance of risk is influenced by factors other than scientific data. The goal of risk communication therefore is more than just imparting scientific facts. It is about ensuring that the public fully understand risk and that they are enabled to make informed decisions under conditions of uncertainty. How people perceive risk, and their values and feelings toward occupational and environmental health issues, are as important considerations for risk communication as are numerical or factual scientific data. Occupational and environmental health scares often occur because of complexities such as the multidimensionality of risk, trust or mistrust in sources of information, technological revolution, the reliance of the public on the media for health information and the public desire for information and the truth. If, as health professionals, we are to address effectively both real and perceived occupational and environmental health issues, we need to be aware of the major advances that have been made in the use of risk communication in recent years.