The importance of trust when implementing the Seveso II Directive: Preliminaries from a Swedish study

摘要

To gain knowledge about the Swedish implementation of the Seveso II Directive, the Swedish Emergency Rescue Service initiated a pilot study. Two municipalities and one control were selected, a sample of 500 citizens in each of the three municipalities received a questionnaire focussing on attitudes towards chemical industries, trust in them and knowledge of emergency behaviour. Analyses on trust focussing on gender, age and work experience from chemical industry, showed relatively few significant effects. Men and those with work experience showed a greater extent of trust in the local chemical industry's concerns for the health and safety of those living in the community. People with work experience had more trust for the local chemical industry's information about risks. Those without work experience believed in unreported accidents and people over 50 years found information about emergency behaviour more credible. Familiarity of the scenario might be important for good risk communication.