Report: risk communication needs stakeholder involvement

A report on the EU-25’s national risk-communications practices recommends involvement of stakeholders in the risk-management process.

STARC, a Commission supported project, is currently examining the role of risk communications in the management of a modern society. Risk communciations means the exchange or sharing of information about risk between decision-makers and other stakeholders. The STARC project aims to identify each actor’s role in risk communications to ensure their interaction with the public and the development of a more dynamic risk-governance culture.

The project published, in August 2006, its survey on national risk communication practices in three industrial sectors of the EU-25 – electricity, chemical waste and GM food. The report concludes that few countries have risk-communications plans or guidelines separate from their risk-management plans and that the risk- communications approach varies widely from one country to another. The authors do not believe harmonisation at EU level is needed, but suggest an annual forum to exchange good practice. 

The authors’ main recommendations include: 

• identification and involvement of stakeholders and stakeholder groups in the risk-management process;
• government surveys of stakeholders’ perception of risks;
• requirement for companies listed on a stock exchange to include a risk assessment in their annual reports;
• co-ordination of risk communication between the private and public sectors. 

As to the industrial sector results, the report states that “risk communication is spelled out as a matter of merely informing the public, instead of understanding it as a matter of dialogue or of public involvement and participation”.

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