Research and analysis

Understanding public perception of risk: report of an Environment Agency workshop

The workshop aimed to raise awareness about current understanding of how the public perceive risk and the implications for risk communication.

From:
Environment Agency
Published
1 January 2002

Documents

Understanding Public Perception of Risk: Report of an Environment Agency Workshop

Ref: ISBN 1857058798, LIT 1496

PDF, 1.18 MB, 28 pages

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Details

Specific aims of the workshop were to:

  • Examine the key findings from the risk perception literature which explain how and why people respond to risk issues
  • Consider the issue of trust and its impact on the public’s receipt and interpretation of Environment Agency risk communication compared to other sources of information
  • Examine how people make sense of risk issues from a range of media (drawing particularly on most recent research on the social amplification of risk)
  • Consider the critical points in the life-cycle of a risk issue which significantly change the perceptions of risk (also drawing particularly on most recent research on the social amplification of risk)
  • Question how the Environment Agency can analyse media and public responses to a risk/hazard to predict future impacts
  • Consider how the Environment Agency can be more proactive in effectively managing its reputation through communication
  • Debate how the Environment Agency should apply all of this understanding in allocating resources for effective decision making
Published 1 January 2002