Get a lawyer: Chapter 3 discussion
What is important to emphasize from this chapter, is that as risk communicators we need to understand the laws within the context of the organization we are working for. There are different laws for different areas of potential risk; find yours, grab a lawyer friend, and discuss what it means for your organization.
We need to offer our expertise and take part in discussions about the implementation of these laws too. Many of the laws require some sort of “community relations plan,” opportunity for community feedback, or public meetings. I honestly can not think of a harder part of the job. The researcher in me would want to conduct these interviews (actually I’d prefer focus groups) with some rigidity to ensure I received a variety of opinions. I have never worked in the field, but I would imagine it is easier to get at “the loud minority” group of people who probably are not exactly representative of the population. Who goes to these public meetings any way? I argue that most people do not care until there is a problem or crisis. People that attend these public meetings are probably your higher educated, higher income folks. How do we involve minority groups from the community? I think this problem is why “dangerous” plants/factories are found in poor parts of communities. All of the wealthier people went to the meetings and said “Hey, not in our town. But Shantyville looks like a better place for your risky operations!”
I was particularly interested in the section on occupational safety and health act. I took care of a variety of veterinary lab animals for
The take-home message from chapter three is that we need to make our organization’s directors aware of these laws, but also emphasize the need to do more than the law minimally requires. Just getting by is not going to cut it.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home