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Food Safety Risk Communication - SIP

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Course Description

Risk Communication is the interactive exchange of information and opinions about hazards and risks, risk-related factors and risk perception. This 3-day face-to-face course presents the basics of risk communication as it is practiced in the U.S.A. with applications to food safety.

It is strongly recommended that this course be taken after you have completed our Overview of Risk Analysis course. The Overview course provides contextual information about risk analysis that is not repeated here.

Overview of Topics

The Messenger and Risk Communication

  • Credibility
  • Expertise
  • Communicating Trust
  • Nonverbal Communication and the Messenger

Message Development

  • Practical Aspects
  • Timing
  • Organizing the Message
  • Message Choices
  • Efficacy
  • Evidence: What to Present
  • Narrative Versus Statistical Appeals
  • Framing the Message

Knowing your Audience

  • Audience Basics
  • Risk Perceptions
  • Psychographic Information
  • Self-esteem and Risk Communication
  • Involvement
  • Anxiety

Channel Choices and Dealing with the Media

  • Impact and Influence
  • Bad News and Good News
  • Knowing the Audience
  • Some Basics about Journalists
  • The Role of the Public Affairs Office
  • The Media Interview
  • Developing Interview Answers
  • Controlling the Interview
  • Interview Do's and Don'ts

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, students can:

  • Understanding the goals of risk communication
  • Differentiating between proactive and reactive risk communication
  • Recognizing communication competence and communicator credibility
  • Understanding how to communicate expertise and trustworthiness
  • Recognizing the importance of nonverbal communication in communicating credibility
  • Knowing how to consider audience attributes
  • Understanding how self esteem, involvement, and anxiety affects risk communication
  • Understanding the phases of message design and the research that corresponds with each phase
  • Understanding the practical aspects of message design such as message timing and message organization
  • Learning the pros and cons of different channels
  • Learning how to prepare for an interview

This course meets a requirement of the JIFSAN Core Certificate in Food Safety Risk Analysis