This Safety Guide supports Member States in developing arrangements for communicating with the public and media and coordinating official information in the response to a nuclear or radiological emergency. These arrangements facilitate the successful implementation of protective actions and the delivery of consistent messages. Specifically, the Safety Guide describes the infrastructure and processes needed to provide useful, timely, truthful, consistent, clear and appropriate information to the public in the event of a nuclear or radiological emergency; respond to incorrect information and rumors; and respond to requests for information from the public and from the news and information media. It will help ensure effective and uniform public information and media communications arrangements during nuclear and radiological emergencies. The guidance is applicable for such emergencies, irrespective of the initiator, whether that be natural event, human error, mechanical or other failure, or a nuclear security event.

• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • Background
  • Objective
  • Scope
  • Structure
• 2. CONSIDERATIONS IN PUBLIC COMMUNICATION
  • Objectives of public communication
  • Essential characteristics of public communication
    • Openness in communication
    • Timeliness of information
    • Factual content
    • Clarity of language
  • Use of scientific and technical terms
    • Use of tables, schematics, maps, graphs and other forms of graphics
    • Use of comparisons
  • Coordination of public communication
  • Challenges of public communication
    • Perception of risk
    • Misinformation and rumours
    • Maintaining public trust
    • Timeliness and accuracy of information
    • Recognizing social context
    • Two-way communication
• 3. ARRANGEMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATION IN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
  • General
  • Public communication programme
  • Public communication strategy
  • Public communication plan
    • Responsibilities and organizational structure
  • Infrastructure and resources
    • Personnel
    • Infrastructure
    • Redundancy
    • Financial resources
  • Spokespersons and technical briefers
  • Public communication tasks
    • Core public communication tasks
    • Auxiliary public communication tasks
  • Communication with and consultation of interested parties
  • Public communication tools
    • Press releases
    • Initial statement
    • Statements for television and radio stations
    • Briefings for the news media
    • Communication on social media
    • Telephone hotlines
    • Background informational material
    • Emergency web page
  • Putting radiological health hazards in perspective
  • Training and exercises
    • Training
    • Exercises
• 4. ARRANGEMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATION IN EMERGENCY RESPONSE
  • General
  • Activating a public communication response
    • Initial statement
    • Spokespersons and technical briefers
  • Public communication tasks
    • Core public communication tasks
    • Auxiliary public communication tasks
  • Communication with interested parties
  • Coordination of public communication
    • National coordination
    • International coordination
  • Public communication tools
    • Press releases
    • Statements for television and radio stations
    • Briefings for the news media
    • Communication on social media
    • Telephone hotlines
    • Background informational material
    • Emergency web page
    • Maps and mapping products
    • International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale
  • Responding to misinformation and rumours
  • Public communication following the termination of an emergency
• 5. ARRANGEMENTS FOR PUBLIC COMMUNICATION UNDER PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES
  • General
  • Nuclear or radiological emergency initiated by an accident
  • Nuclear or radiological emergency initiated by a natural event
  • Nuclear or radiological emergency initiated by a nuclear security event
  • Transition phase
• Appendix EXAMPLE SYSTEM FOR PUTTING RADIOLOGICAL HEALTH HAZARDS IN PERSPECTIVE IN A NUCLEAR OR RADIOLOGICAL EMERGENCY
• REFERENCES
• Annex I EXAMPLE TEMPLATES OF AN INITIAL STATEMENT AND AN INITIAL PRESS RELEASE
• Annex II EXAMPLE OF A PUBLIC INFORMATION SECTION WITHIN A UNIFIED COMMAND AND CONTROL SYSTEM
• Annex III ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF VARIOUS COMMUNICATION TOOLS
• Annex IV LIST OF USEFUL BACKGROUND INFORMATIONAL MATERIAL
• Annex V ATTRIBUTION OF HEALTH EFFECTS TO RADIATION EXPOSURE AND PROSPECTIVE INFERENCE OF RISKS
• CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW