a Department of Environmental Health , Municipal Health Services Groningen , Groningen , The Netherlands.
b Department of Public and Occupational Health , EMGO Institute for Health and Care Research, VU University Medical Center , Amsterdam , The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Health Res. 2018 Jun;28(3):240-252. doi: 10.1080/09603123.2018.1468422. Epub 2018 Apr 29.
Large fires involving hazardous materials are often characterized by failing crisis communication. In this study, we compared opinions of experts regarding the risks of major fires to lay beliefs using a mental models approach. Amongst lay people this revealed relevant knowledge gaps and beliefs in opposition to those held by experts. While, experts considered the chance of getting cancer from inhaling smoke from a chemical fire extremely small, most lay people thought that even at a great distance, the chance of getting cancer to be large. To improve crisis communication about risk in a case of large chemical fires, and reduce the potential for messages to be misunderstood, distrusted or dismissed, we recommend a clarification of cancer risk in communications about public health emergencies such as chemical fires, for which lay people equate even small exposures to carcinogenic chemicals make one more likely to get cancer later in life.
涉及危险材料的大型火灾通常以危机沟通失败为特征。在这项研究中，我们使用心智模型方法比较了专家对重大火灾风险的看法和一般大众的看法。在一般大众中，这揭示了相关的知识差距和与专家观点相矛盾的信念。虽然专家认为吸入化学火灾产生的烟雾而致癌的可能性极小，但大多数普通大众认为，即使在很远的距离，患癌症的可能性也很大。为了改善涉及大型化学火灾风险的危机沟通，并减少信息被误解、不信任或忽视的可能性，我们建议在涉及公共卫生紧急情况（如化学火灾）的沟通中，对癌症风险进行澄清，因为普通大众认为，即使是接触少量致癌化学物质，也会使人在以后的生活中更有可能患上癌症。
