The need for integrated Risk & Crisis Communication
Philippe Borremans 
Risk and Crisis communication are two fields that have been operating separately for too long.
Risk and crisis communication are two fields that have been operating separately for too long. They need to come together, learn from each other, and work side-by-side.
It's time for risk communicators to ask themselves: what can I do better? And it's time for crisis communicators to ask the same question. As a result of this collaboration, public and private organisations will be able to more effectively manage risks before they become crises, thereby saving lives and protecting reputations.
All along the current pandemic we have seen numerous situations where both risk -and crisis communications were required in order to manage the multiple and varied emergency situations effectively.
Most, if not all organisations involved found it difficult to coordinate their efforts because they didn't speak the same language or know how one another's job functioned.
This is why it's important for risk and crisis communicators to be on the same page when it comes to:
- The underlying assumptions about what constitutes risk and how it is perceived and experienced by key audiences.
- What constitutes an issue, a risk and when do they become a crisis.
- How best to respond in either case.
It's not enough for us to understand our own roles; we also need working knowledge of each other's responsibilities so that they we can face an emergency in a coordinated and integrated way.
Categories: : Crisis Communication, Risk Communication