Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:4:p6
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 6/11)
Character Range: 3087582–3090510

or confident and cooperative. Accordingly, it is important to ensure that the material available to the media is framed in a rational, consistent and non-inflammatory manner. A good working relationship with media personnel can provide the opportunity for information dissemination outlets to the community. For consultants who deal with the media, it is sensible to nominate one person within the organisation to liaise with the media and act as the main point of contact (this helps to avoid conflicting or confused messages being disseminated).

4.1.4         Risk perception
The term 'risk perception' generally refers to the perceptions of that part of the community that is outside the regulatory, scientific research and risk assessment spheres. In engaging with the community, it is important to remember that perception of risk can be influenced by numerous factors beyond just the scientific data. It is for this reason that what may scientifically constitute a 'negligible risk' can still give rise to anger and resentment within the community. People see risk as multidimensional and not as being represented by a numerical value alone, judging risk according to its characteristics and context. For example, trauma and death as the result of an involuntary catastrophic reaction is likely to be dreaded more than as the result of a situation where the risk is assumed voluntarily and the person feels some degree of control over it (for example, motor vehicle crashes).

A study by the Centre for Population Studies in Epidemiology, (Starr & Taylor 2000), investigated health risk perception in a national sample population. Major findings indicated that risk perception is largely influenced by age, gender and education, and that certain kinds of risks tend to arouse heightened levels of concern.

Concerns about risk tend to be heightened where risks are:
    * involuntary or imposed on the community
    * man-made rather than natural
    * inescapable
    * controlled by parties outside the community
    * likely to have little or no benefit to the community
    * subject to media attention
    * unfairly distributed
    * related to a distrusted source
    * exotic or unfamiliar
    * likely to affect children or pregnant women
    * likely to affect identifiable rather than anonymous people
    * the cause of insidious and irreversible damage
    * the cause of dreaded health effects such as cancer
    * poorly understood by science
    * subject to contradictory statements from responsible sources (or, even worse, from the same source)
    * related to situations where the risk makers are not the risk takers.
While medical doctors were viewed with greater trust, nearly 40% of study participants identified the media (including newspapers, magazines, television and radio) as their primary source of information.

4.1.5         Develop the message
It is often helpful to develop key messages