Communication about major accident hazards: credibility of qualified informers in an Italian city

Reports on research carried out under the aegis of the European Community as part of the Step Programme. Researchers from the following universities contributed: Berlin (Germany), Grenoble (France), Lancaster (Great Britain), Liège (Belgium), and The Catholic University (Milan, Italy). Aims to evaluate public perception of individuals and organizations as informers in situations where there is a high level industrial risk. Discusses the following: the clarity of communication, the degree of professionalism of the information sources, the extent to which the message attributed to each of the important informers was credible. Treats this as a comparative study under the terms of Article 8 of the Seveso Directive which invites public authorities, as well as so‐called “risk” industries, to keep the population informed of the potential dangers to which they are exposed as a result of industrial activity.