Brussels, 28/08/2006 (Agence Europe) - The STARC (Stakeholders in Risk Communication) project is holding a workshop on good practice in risk communication in Brussels on 9-10 November. The workshop is aimed at representatives of the European Commission, Member States and industry concerned with civil protection and risk management. The STARC project, a consortium comprising, among others, the Institute for the Protection and Security of Citizens (ISPC) of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre at Ispra, Electricité de France (EDF), Trilateral Research & Consulting (United Kingdom), SINE (South German Institute of Empirical Social Research), is supported by the Commission's 6th research framework programme which seeks to coordinate national approaches on risk communication and to involve all stakeholders and civil society “in a more dynamic risk governance culture”.
STARC has also just published a 296 page report entitled Risk communication practices in EU member states, selected other countries and industries, following a survey carried out in the 25 EU Member States and Switzerland, Norway, the United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. 28 out of the 31 countries responded, and the report shows that some of them “have developed very sophisticated risk communication practices and have a very deep understanding of the subject”. Many, however, are not yet at that stage (see http: //starc.jrc.it). The report also provides the results of in-depth interviews on risk communication practices in three industrial sectors (electricity, chemical waste, and genetically modified foods and crops) in France, Germany, Hungary and Switzerland.