|
|
|
|
|
15 November 2024
|
Featured FRI Magazine article: Public information can save lives! by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 11)
The role of the PIO is to provide information about an incident or operation
|
The PIO plays a major role in communicating important fire safety and prevention information to the public
|
Effective communication between the PIO and the public via the news media
|
The PIO promotes public safety and the fire department
|
https://www.frimedia.org/uploads/1/2/2/7/122743954/fri-vol-2-no-11_web.pdf
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Public information can save lives! written by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 11). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Public information can save lives!
By Rodney Eksteen
The public have a right to know about fire and emergency incidents, what they can do to protect themselves and what the agencies responsible for managing these events are doing to mitigate the crisis. Response agencies in the event of such major incidents need to be prepared to interact with the media at a moment’s notice and to provide accurate, relevant and potentially lifesaving information. To meet this need a public information officer (PIO) can help an organisation to broadcast its message; facilitate better interaction among the media, response agencies and the public and can help put other response officials at ease when dealing with the media.
Dealings with the media should not be haphazard or result in a fleeting attempt to pacify some inquiring news outlet. Giving daily attention to getting out the ‘feel-good stories’ and allowing the media to feel like partners during life threatening fires and emergencies, help to remove the barriers and improve the service that response agencies provide.
The public information function
Many times there is confusion about public information, public relations and public education. Even though public information may, and should, embody elements of the other two, it is not public relations or public education. Public information is information about an incident or operation. It is generally information that the public wants to know or may need to know as in the case of an evacuation. Public relations support the development of a positive public attitude or opinion about the department and its services. Public education is the development of appropriate fire or life safety behaviours.
The role of the PIO is to provide information about an incident or operation. When possible, the PIO should also use the opportunity to promote the department or provide important fire safety messages. However, the PIO must first provide the basic information about the incident. Many PIOs have lost good opportunities because they focused on ‘punting the departments name' rather than providing good public information.
The goals of public information include:
• providing effective communication between the PIO and the public via the news media
• when possible, developing a positive public perception about the fire department
• recognition of the heroes and the personnel who have done the work
• dissemination of important fire and life safety messages.
It is the primary mission of the PIO to ensure these goals are achieved. To meet this mission, the PIO should possess some basic communication skills. First, the PIO must be an effective verbal communicator. This includes the skills to respond to questions with answers that are concise and succinct. Next, the PIO must be able to clarify technical fire department information so that it is easy to understand by the media and the public. The PIO must be able to create and maintain a positive, win-win relationship with the media and operations personnel. Finally, the PIO must be knowledgeable about fire department operations. This is critical to gain credibility with the media and the public.
On-scene information management
As mentioned earlier, the on-scene PIO works under the framework of the incident command system. The PIO is directly responsible to the incident commander. In this role, the PIO establishes and maintains the function of on-scene information management. The purpose of the information management is to ensure that timely, accurate information is provided to the media without compromising any operations or the rights of the public.
There are several objectives of on-scene information management:
• Ensure the safety of the media during the emergency operation. While the media should be given free access when appropriate, the PIO must ensure the media is not at risk. Many times this will require restricting access to the scene and then monitoring the media to ensure that policy is not violated.
• Ensure operations are not affected by the media. After life safety, the highest priority of the fire department is to successfully conduct operations at the incident.
• Meet the media’s needs for information. The best way to gain cooperation of the media is to treat them as a customer and provide them with the information they require in a timely, reasonable manner. If their needs are being met, they are much more cooperative and are more willing to disseminate the fire department's story of the incident.
• Be proactive with the story and photo/video opportunities. It is the PIO's responsibility to create story opportunities with the information from the incident, especially human-interest stories and stories that praise the fire fighters performance at the incident.
• Ensure all organisational policies are followed during the release of information. Every organisation, regardless of size, should have a policy on the release of information. The PIO must ensure that the information released to the media is in accordance with the necessary policies and the law.
Using the media to educate the public
Public information utilises the local media to inform the public about fires, life threatening situations, services and programmes. However, it’s also an opportunity to get important educational messages out using the media whenever and wherever possible. Though, before this will work the fire and emergency service must build a positive working relationship with the media. Secondly, in order to reduce fires, injuries and improve fire safety etc, a change in the public’s behaviours and attitudes is necessary.
In order for behaviour change to occur a person must become aware of the need to change their behaviour and they must develop the intention to do so. Secondly the person must acquire the skills and ability to actually change their behaviour. Thirdly, the desired behaviour must be accepted and welcomed by the community.
Certain principles must be considered when using this strategy:
Principle 1: Determine the motivators. People’s decisions are not always rational or fully understood. We can’t get to people without identifying what motivates them to care.
Principle 2: Simplify the message to its essentials and hammer it home. Repetition over time reinforces. The moment a programme has stopped, people that have not been totally influenced, will resume previous dangerous behaviour.
Principle 3: Emphasise personal relevance. This is the ‘What’s in it for me’ and must be answered in seven words or less.
Principle 4: Emphasise ease of adoption and social acceptability. Mention simple words like easy. For example ‘it’s easy and your mom would approve’.
Other important concepts to consider include ensuring local relevance (people are more interested and attentive in what happened in their community; timeliness (capture the teachable moment eg provide prevention information soon after the actual incident); focussing on only one issue at a time ie identify the problem and provide the solution and finally the call to action.
The PIO often plays a major role in communicating important fire safety and prevention information to the public. The US Fire Administrations Fire Spokesperson’s Media Guide is a good resource to download on how to make the most of these teachable moments (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/media/media_guide/index.shtm).
Methods to communicate the message
The most common methods that are utilised by the PIO to ‘communicate’ to the public through the media are: 1) the press release, 2) the media advisory and 3) direct contact.
The press release is used to provide the media with information that is in a ready-to-use news story format. The media advisory is the means used to communicate important information about upcoming department events to the media. Unlike the press release, the target audience of the media advisory is the media rather than the public. Direct contact is one of the best ways to get information to the media and includes ‘on-scene’ interviews, radio interviews and news conferences.
Conclusion
The public information officer is vital to maintaining and improving the image of fire and emergency services. The PIO serves as the department’s spokesperson and is responsible for disseminating information to the media at disasters and emergency incidents. The PIO provides fire safety education to the public, promotes public safety and informs stakeholders about the services the department provides. Public information is an integral part of the organisation and the incident management system. Effective communication with the media and the public is crucial to the success of any department or organisation.
This week’s featured Fire and Rescue International magazine article is: Public information can save lives! written by Rodney Eksteen (FRI Vol 2 no 11). We will be sharing more technical/research/tactical articles from Fire and Rescue International magazine on a weekly basis with our readers to assist in technology transfer. This will hopefully create an increased awareness, providing you with hands-on advice and guidance. All our magazines are available free of charge in PDF format on our website and online at ISSUU. We also provide all technical articles as a free download in our article archive on our website.
Public information can save lives!
By Rodney Eksteen
The public have a right to know about fire and emergency incidents, what they can do to protect themselves and what the agencies responsible for managing these events are doing to mitigate the crisis. Response agencies in the event of such major incidents need to be prepared to interact with the media at a moment’s notice and to provide accurate, relevant and potentially lifesaving information. To meet this need a public information officer (PIO) can help an organisation to broadcast its message; facilitate better interaction among the media, response agencies and the public and can help put other response officials at ease when dealing with the media.
Dealings with the media should not be haphazard or result in a fleeting attempt to pacify some inquiring news outlet. Giving daily attention to getting out the ‘feel-good stories’ and allowing the media to feel like partners during life threatening fires and emergencies, help to remove the barriers and improve the service that response agencies provide.
The public information function
Many times there is confusion about public information, public relations and public education. Even though public information may, and should, embody elements of the other two, it is not public relations or public education. Public information is information about an incident or operation. It is generally information that the public wants to know or may need to know as in the case of an evacuation. Public relations support the development of a positive public attitude or opinion about the department and its services. Public education is the development of appropriate fire or life safety behaviours.
The role of the PIO is to provide information about an incident or operation. When possible, the PIO should also use the opportunity to promote the department or provide important fire safety messages. However, the PIO must first provide the basic information about the incident. Many PIOs have lost good opportunities because they focused on ‘punting the departments name' rather than providing good public information.
The goals of public information include:
• providing effective communication between the PIO and the public via the news media
• when possible, developing a positive public perception about the fire department
• recognition of the heroes and the personnel who have done the work
• dissemination of important fire and life safety messages.
It is the primary mission of the PIO to ensure these goals are achieved. To meet this mission, the PIO should possess some basic communication skills. First, the PIO must be an effective verbal communicator. This includes the skills to respond to questions with answers that are concise and succinct. Next, the PIO must be able to clarify technical fire department information so that it is easy to understand by the media and the public. The PIO must be able to create and maintain a positive, win-win relationship with the media and operations personnel. Finally, the PIO must be knowledgeable about fire department operations. This is critical to gain credibility with the media and the public.
On-scene information management
As mentioned earlier, the on-scene PIO works under the framework of the incident command system. The PIO is directly responsible to the incident commander. In this role, the PIO establishes and maintains the function of on-scene information management. The purpose of the information management is to ensure that timely, accurate information is provided to the media without compromising any operations or the rights of the public.
There are several objectives of on-scene information management:
• Ensure the safety of the media during the emergency operation. While the media should be given free access when appropriate, the PIO must ensure the media is not at risk. Many times this will require restricting access to the scene and then monitoring the media to ensure that policy is not violated.
• Ensure operations are not affected by the media. After life safety, the highest priority of the fire department is to successfully conduct operations at the incident.
• Meet the media’s needs for information. The best way to gain cooperation of the media is to treat them as a customer and provide them with the information they require in a timely, reasonable manner. If their needs are being met, they are much more cooperative and are more willing to disseminate the fire department's story of the incident.
• Be proactive with the story and photo/video opportunities. It is the PIO's responsibility to create story opportunities with the information from the incident, especially human-interest stories and stories that praise the fire fighters performance at the incident.
• Ensure all organisational policies are followed during the release of information. Every organisation, regardless of size, should have a policy on the release of information. The PIO must ensure that the information released to the media is in accordance with the necessary policies and the law.
Using the media to educate the public
Public information utilises the local media to inform the public about fires, life threatening situations, services and programmes. However, it’s also an opportunity to get important educational messages out using the media whenever and wherever possible. Though, before this will work the fire and emergency service must build a positive working relationship with the media. Secondly, in order to reduce fires, injuries and improve fire safety etc, a change in the public’s behaviours and attitudes is necessary.
In order for behaviour change to occur a person must become aware of the need to change their behaviour and they must develop the intention to do so. Secondly the person must acquire the skills and ability to actually change their behaviour. Thirdly, the desired behaviour must be accepted and welcomed by the community.
Certain principles must be considered when using this strategy:
Principle 1: Determine the motivators. People’s decisions are not always rational or fully understood. We can’t get to people without identifying what motivates them to care.
Principle 2: Simplify the message to its essentials and hammer it home. Repetition over time reinforces. The moment a programme has stopped, people that have not been totally influenced, will resume previous dangerous behaviour.
Principle 3: Emphasise personal relevance. This is the ‘What’s in it for me’ and must be answered in seven words or less.
Principle 4: Emphasise ease of adoption and social acceptability. Mention simple words like easy. For example ‘it’s easy and your mom would approve’.
Other important concepts to consider include ensuring local relevance (people are more interested and attentive in what happened in their community; timeliness (capture the teachable moment eg provide prevention information soon after the actual incident); focussing on only one issue at a time ie identify the problem and provide the solution and finally the call to action.
The PIO often plays a major role in communicating important fire safety and prevention information to the public. The US Fire Administrations Fire Spokesperson’s Media Guide is a good resource to download on how to make the most of these teachable moments (http://www.usfa.fema.gov/media/media_guide/index.shtm).
Methods to communicate the message
The most common methods that are utilised by the PIO to ‘communicate’ to the public through the media are: 1) the press release, 2) the media advisory and 3) direct contact.
The press release is used to provide the media with information that is in a ready-to-use news story format. The media advisory is the means used to communicate important information about upcoming department events to the media. Unlike the press release, the target audience of the media advisory is the media rather than the public. Direct contact is one of the best ways to get information to the media and includes ‘on-scene’ interviews, radio interviews and news conferences.
Conclusion
The public information officer is vital to maintaining and improving the image of fire and emergency services. The PIO serves as the department’s spokesperson and is responsible for disseminating information to the media at disasters and emergency incidents. The PIO provides fire safety education to the public, promotes public safety and informs stakeholders about the services the department provides. Public information is an integral part of the organisation and the incident management system. Effective communication with the media and the public is crucial to the success of any department or organisation.