EPR-Public Communications
L-05
Creating a Public Communications Program
IAEA
International Atomic Energy Agency
Prepare, plan, practice
• Make goals clear and precise;
• The PIO group should have a mission statement
that is understood and frequently referred to;
• Example:
• “To manage, through actions, policies, and
messages, the human behavioral aspects of
emergency preparedness, response and recovery.”
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Program setup
• Designate jobs, roles, and responsibilities based
on the Incident Command Structure (ICS)
Incident
Commander
Public
Information
Officer/Group
Logistics
Section
Safety
Officer
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Planning
Section
Operations
Section
Finance/Adm
inistration
Section
Program setup
• Establish internal organizational process for
getting messages approved during an
emergency;
• Provide for needed resources (space,
equipment, communications lines,
personnel);
• Establish agreements with other
organizations on coordination of information
release.
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Program setup
• List of contacts (addresses, office and
mobile phones, including after-hours
numbers, emails, etc.) for:
• Media (including blogs and online sites);
• Stakeholders (NGOs, industry, etc.);
• Contacts at other organizations that will be part of the
emergency response (including international);
• Other key public and political officials;
• Members of your own team.
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Public communications activities
• The PIO is responsible for delivering public
information activities;
• Some states and organizations may already
have groups responsible for public
information;
• Such groups could be used to fulfill the PIO
function during a radiation emergency.
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Public communications activities
• Strategic planning–to develop a strategy for
communicating during the emergency;
• Media Relations—to manage relations with
the media;
• Media Monitoring—to monitor effectiveness
of media relations and accuracy of reporting;
• New Media—to maintain emergency specific
website.
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Public Communications Activities
• Liaison and Coordination—to coordinate
information/messages and release of
information;
• Public Relations—to provide information to
the public;
• Internal Communications—to keep
responders and employees informed about
what is being said to the media.
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Program setup
• Identify potential ways to contact various
audiences. Become familiar with how to use
these channels so in the event of emergency
you are prepared to use them immediately;
• Where possible, establish these channels
(an emergency site on your organization’s
home page, links to social media,
emergency alert systems to reach the
public’s radios or cell phones.
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Organization and planning
• The PIO structure should also include liaison
officers– PIO staff who are assigned to sit in on
meetings and discussions in the Planning and
Operations Sections;
• The PIO will also need access to technical experts,
so at least one expert will need to be assigned as
an advisor to the PIO;
• The designated spokesperson or spokespersons
will also report and work within the PIO structure.
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Phases of Emergency Management
• Preparedness
• Response
• Recovery
Planning for public communications is
necessary for all potential emergencies in all
three phases.
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Basic steps
• List all potential emergencies;
• For each emergency, identify the goals of
your risk communication plan;
• For each emergency, develop a resource of
basic information about such an emergency.
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Risk communication planning
Time_________
Date_________
Circumstances
Context
Risk Perception
Characteristics
Audiences
Channels
Spokesperson
Actions/Messages
Facts, history,
summarize issues.
Based on facts in
column 1, list risk
perception factors
are involved in the
emergency?
Who are your
audiences?
Which relationships
are most important?
Identify special
populations.
List the various
ways to reach each
audience: news
conferences, press
releases, websites,
social media,
“kitchen-table”
meetings, public
meetings, phone
calls…
Determine who will
be talking.
Spokesperson
should have
authority and
expertise.
Based on all
columns, enter here
what you will say.
Facts and context
about issue in
general . Have
similar incidents
occurred in the
past? When? What
were the
consequences?
Note details of
current relationship
with stakeholders
(good, bad,
controversial,
cooperative…)
Note political
realities in local
communities.
List all relevant
factors in order of
priority.
Example: if “trust”
is a perception
factor, determine
how you will directly
address it.
Copyright, Ropeik & Associates
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Column 1: Circumstances, context
• List basic facts about the emergency;
• Enter facts about the issue in general,
including its context and history.
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Column 2: Risk Perception
Characteristics
• Based on the facts in Column 1, list the
psychological factors, like trust, control, or
uncertainty that might be involved in the
emergency;
• List all the emotional factors that might be
involved, but prioritize them based on their
importance;
• Trust is always key.
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Column 3: Audiences
• Who do you want to reach?
• Identify special at-risk populations;
• Some of the risk perception factors in
Column 2 will apply to certain audiences
more than others.
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Column 4: Channels
• List the various ways to reach each
audience:
• News conferences, press releases, radio
announcements…
• Postings to web sites or social media sites;
• One-on-one “kitchen table” meetings in
people’s homes (take on different forms in
preparation and recovery stages);
• Public meetings (preparation, recovery
stages).
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Column 5: Spokesperson
• Designate the spokesperson(s) who will be
most trusted by the audiences affected;
• Information should always be delivered in
plain language, even if the spokesperson
has technical expertise.
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Column 6: Actions, Messages
• Based on details from the other columns,
enter what you plan to do and what
messages you will deliver;
• Risk communication is how you act not just
how you speak;
• Refer to the other columns to effectively fill
in this one.
•
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Risk communication planning
process chart
• Use the chart for all three stages of risk
•
•
•
•
communication;
Use as many pages as necessary;
Note the time and date on each page;
Fill in new pages as circumstances change;
These charts become a playbook for each
plan, a record of the process to refer to as
events unfold and later for determining
lessons learned.
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Prepare information materials
• Topic specific fact sheets;
• Answers to common questions from the
public;
• Answers to questions from the news media;
• Resources to quickly distribute to the media
(including video and audio).
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Other basic steps to prepare
• Create and strengthen relationships with key
partners (news media, public health
authorities…);
• Develop actions and messages for each
potential emergency based on the chart,
keep organized and available for reference;
• Research what the public wants to know and
address public concerns;
• Test your messages.
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Practice
• Risk communication plans should be an
integral part of any exercise;
• Exercises should be designed to test the
challenges of managing public behavior
during a theoretical event;
• Senior managers and spokespeople should
practice delivering key messages;
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Summary
• Set explicit goals and a clear sense of mission and
•
•
•
•
purpose;
Prepare in advance: create an infrastructure, job
assignments and procedures;
Prepare materials, equipment, contact information,
messages, for potential emergencies;
Message preparation is a process that requires careful
thinking about other elements first;
Practice risk communication in exercises.
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