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1 Use language appropriate to the target audience.

2 Use vivid, concrete images that communicate information about risks on a personal level.

3 Use stories, examples, and anecdotes that make technical risk‐related data and information come alive.

4 Avoid distant, abstract, unfeeling language about deaths, injuries, illnesses, or harm; acknowledge – and say – that any illness, injury, or death is a tragedy.

5 Acknowledge, and respond to, both in words and with actions, the emotions people are feeling and expressing, including anxiety, fear, anger, and outrage.

6 Acknowledge and respond to the factors that people view as important in evaluating and accepting risks.

7 Use comparisons, especially comparisons to regulatory or professional standards, to help put risk information in perspective, improve understanding of a risk, and improve the adoption of protective behaviors, but be careful of comparisons that ignore factors that people consider important in evaluating and accepting risks.

8 Include a discussion of risk‐reduction and control actions, including what people can do to increase feelings of self‐efficacy and control or reduce their exposures to risks.

9 Promise only what you can deliver with confidence and do what you promise; guarantee processes rather than outcomes.

Research and analysis of case studies have shown that these principles and guidelines form the basic building blocks for effective risk communication. Each principle and guideline recognizes (differently) that effective risk communication is a process based on mutual trust, stakeholder engagement, and respect. Each principle and guideline also recognize that effective risk communication is central to informed decision‐making and is a complex art and skill that requires substantial knowledge, training, and practice.