WORKING WITH TECHNICAL EXPERTS IN THE RISK MANAGEMENT INFRASTRUCTURE

One daunting challenge to public relations practitioners is the need t o help foster communication between sources of industrial risk and per sons who work and live in communities where the source of risk is loca ted. Public relations practitioners often cannot serve as primary sour ces of information but must assist others in this endeavor. One potent ial group of technical experts, industrial hygienists, was studied to determine the role they believe they play in this process. Results ind icate that hygienists who are employed in the industry show significan t differences from non-employees, especially in terms of level of cogn itive involvement, uncertainty, use of business as sources of informat ion, perceived knowledge of risks, and confidence in industry's willin gness to exert self-control to abate risks. Of related importance is t he prevalence of communication networks technical experts use to obtai n and vet information regarding risks. Christine Diana Gay is a public relations specialist at Creative Marketing Services, Inc., Houston. R obert Heath is a professor, School of Communication, University of Hou ston.