Question

Discuss how the lay public perceives risk and how this differs from environmental health professionals and Identify at least one major tenet of risk communication and discuss why it is important to incorporate when communicating risk to the public.

Answer 1

Layman	Professional
Scientific factors regarding a risk factor may not be understood fully by a layman	Possess scientific knowledge about a risk factor
Perceives the seriousness of a threat based on rumors and circulating news	Classifies a threat as major, minor or moderate based on scientific evidences
May perceive a threat from the perspective of self protection.	Perceives a threat from the context of measures to minimize or remove the threat in order to protect the community

One major principle of risk communication is to 'accept and involve the public as legitimate partner'. The public holds the right to be informed and involved in decision making that may affect their health and possessions. Risk communication should not aim at spreading the concern or to prevent action by public against it. The aim of risk communication must be to keep the public informed so that they can actively and collaboratively participate in remedial measures. The respect towards the community is projected by early information and involvement of all the groups that are at a risk before development or implementation of policies.