How should municipalities communicate with their citizens in a good way about invisible hazards, such as high radon levels, mold spores, asbestos dust, Legionella or gas leaks? What are the differences between visible and invisible hazards, and how does it affect risk communication? What makes it so difficult to communicate about the dangers we cannot see and what should the municipalities do when incidents involving such dangers occur?
We study these research questions in a project together with Fjell municipality as the project owner, in addition to three other municipalities from western Norway - Øygarden, Stavanger and Lindås. The project is funded by the Regional Research Fund (Western Norway).
Invisible hazards cannot be perceived with the senses, they can have unclear causes and consequences, and they can have possible long-term effects. Previous research shows that there are challenges related to communication about dangers we cannot see. What should initially be risk communication quickly becomes crisis communication, which is both resource-demanding and often leaves an impression that the dangers are more imminent than they actually are. Providing objective information while simultaneously avoiding unnecessary fear is a difficult balancing act.
In the project we conduct six in-depth case studies in the four Norwegian municipalities. The case studies are incidents involving risk communication about invisible hazards that has occurred in the municipalities during recent years. The data material is gathered through focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews in the municipalities. In addition, we conduct document studies of the municipalities’ strategies, procedures and routines for risk and crisis communication, and a literature study of international research on risk communication, crisis communication, and invisible hazards.
The aim of the project is to make Norwegian municipalities better able to communicate about, and manage, invisible hazards. A knowledge-based tool for practicing risk communication - RISIKOM - is also developed during the project and will be made available to all Norwegian municipalities.