Radiation Hazard Scale

New Communication Tool for Radiation Emergencies

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed a new tool for public health officials to communicate with the public in a radiation emergency. The Radiation Hazard Scale helps people better understand their risk for health effects from the emergency, and can encourage people to follow recommended protective actions if needed and reduce their risk.

The tool is a scale of hazard levels, similar to other scales people are familiar with (e.g., hurricane categories). It describes the immediate potential impact of the accident for people, and the hazard category depends on where people are located.

The Radiation Hazard Scale is intended to communicate relative hazards to populations under emergency conditions when exact radiation exposure parameters for specific individuals are not available. Environmental scientists and radiation safety experts can evaluate the data and assign the Radiation Hazard Categories in coordination with emergency management authorities, public health officials, and communication experts. Although specific dose values associated with the Hazard Scale are provided for use by radiation protection experts and emergency response or public health authorities, they are not generally useful for public messaging, especially during early phase of a radiation emergency.

The scale has been audience tested with public information officers, emergency management and public health professionals, and members of the public with at least a high school education. Audience members found the scale to be simple to understand for most adults.

RADIATION HAZARD SCALE

  https://emergency.cdc.gov/radiation/radiationhazardscale.asp