Australia: Better warnings to ensure action

With the multitude of warnings issued when an emergency hits, how can emergency services ensure their critical safety advice is heard and acted upon, rather than dismissed as noise?

Research undertaken through the Effective risk and warnings communication project at the Queensland University of Technology has helped emergency services warn communities by actively testing the wording and structure of warning messages to better understand how messages are understood and translated into direct action. The team, led by Prof Vivienne Tippett, has supported broader initiatives in emergency communications and warnings, not just for individual organisations, but also at the national level by providing reviews and assisting with the development of evidence-based warning doctrine.

Changing the focus of warning messages has been the key, believes Anthony Clark, Director Corporate Communications at the New South Wales Rural Fire Service.

“This research is a really important piece of the puzzle. It is a game-changer for us as we had been sending out information and warnings in a format that met the needs of the emergency services. This research tips the process on its head and puts the community first and foremost. Emergency services are forming warning messages with the community in mind, so we can get the best possible response from the community in a time of disaster,” Anthony says.

In South Australia, the Country Fire Service has used the findings to change its warning messages, ensuring they are simpler and easier to understand, explains Fiona Dunstan, Manager Information Operations.

“We’ve looked at our warnings and restructured and reprioritised the content to make sure the critical information was upfront. This ensures timely, targeted and meaningful information is provided to the community,” Fiona says.

Country Fire Service warnings are now much shorter – previously they were three pages long. Now the vital information is on one page.

The New South Wales State Emergency Service has also looked at how its warning messages are structured.

“We have seen some great outputs in the warnings space from this research,” says the NSW SES’ Andrew Richards.

“This will help us deliver our message to affected communities better so we can elicit the desired response during a disaster.”

In Queensland, the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services have used the research findings to influence community behaviour when the communities’ capacity to act rationally may be impaired.

“The research results are highly valuable and provide emergency service agencies with sound principles to follow,” explains Hayley Gillespie, Executive Manager Media at QFES.  

“These include using clear, direct language, structuring information in easily understood formats, and linking agency communications to other credible information sources. All of these strategies, and others the research covers, will help people to quickly make sound decisions that could save lives and property.”

QFES have also drawn on the expertise of the team to inform its strategy development for the future.

The study has seen close collaboration between the research team and the emergency services sector, with other organisations to have their warning information reviewed include the Inspector-General of Emergency Management Queensland, Emergency Management Victoria, Victoria State Emergency Service, Country Fire Authority, the Department of Fire and Emergency Services Western Australia and the Bureau of Meteorology. Nationally, the research was used to support the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Handbook on public information and warnings and the companion document Choose Your Words, while the Emergency Media and Public Affairs conference recognised the research as having an impact on community safety, with a highly commended award in its 2018 research category.

SEQwater has also benefited from the science, and has sought input from the team on how to improve its messaging about releasing water from dams during a flood. Community surveys show that these revised messages are more trustworthy, and achieve more proactive action.

Further highlighting the wide-reaching implications of this research, ABC local radio in Wide Bay, Queensland, is also engaged with the research team, looking at ways it can improve its emergency broadcasting.