Developing communications about risks of major industrial accidents in the Netherlands

Public communication about industrial risks and hazards is becoming an important feature of both corporate and government policies in the area of health, safety and the environment. Such communication appears to be an issue of great scientific, economic, social and political complexity. Limitations in the science of risk assessment, in media coverage, in risk management institutions, in public perception and understanding or in other resources may pose serious obstacles to risk communication. To this must be added the more basic observation that the actual motives to inform the public about risks may be rooted in different considerations.