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In the event of a hazardous chemical release incident in the UK, affected members of the public would undergo improvised and interim forms of decontamination (the “Initial Operational Response” (IOR)). To enable members of the public to take recommended actions quickly, the Home Office and National Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre have developed the “Remove, Remove, Remove” pre-incident information campaign. This is designed to raise awareness amongst a broad range of people with a public safety role, as well as members of the general public. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Public perceptions of the utility of “Remove, Remove, Remove” pre-incident information materials were assessed using focus group discussions and questionnaires.

Perceptions of the “Remove, Remove, Remove” campaign poster were generally positive, and the groups agreed that releasing this type of information prior to an incident occurring is a positive step. There was consensus that the poster contains useful information, and that members of the public would benefit from receiving this information prior to a chemical incident occurring.

The findings from this study have been used to inform the development of the “Remove, Remove, Remove” materials. These materials have been disseminated to all emergency services in the UK to further embed IOR principles, as well as to crowd safety professionals.

Reports from small‐scale incidents in which decontamination was conducted suggest that a successful communication strategy is vital in order to increase public compliance with, and reduce public anxiety about, decontamination. However, it has not been possible to examine public behaviour during large scale incidents involving decontamination. The aim of the research reported here was to examine the relationship between people's positive perceptions of responding agencies’ communication strategies and relevant outcome variables, such as level of compliance and level of reassurance, in several field exercises involving mass decontamination.

Data were collected using feedback questionnaires completed by simulated casualties, which contained items relating to casualties’ perceptions of the success of responding agencies’ communication strategies, their confidence in emergency responders, and their compliance with the decontamination process. Path analysis was used to examine the relationships between variables.

Results show a significant relationship between responding agencies’ communication strategies, level of public reassurance, and level of public compliance. The relationship between responders’ communication strategies and the outcome variables was partially mediated by public confidence in responders.

Emergency responders should focus on communication with members of the public as a key element of the decontamination process, as failure to do so could result in high levels of anxiety and low levels of compliance among those who are affected.

This research highlights the importance of effective responder communication strategies. Further, findings indicate the value of examining feedback from field exercises in order to facilitate a greater understanding of public experiences of the decontamination process.

There is an assumption in emergency planning that the public will “panic” or refuse to comply in the event of mass decontamination. This assumption has serious implications for how the public will be managed. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The authors carried out semi-structured interviews with 13 emergency responders, six of whom had experience of incidents involving decontamination. The authors asked them, first, about their experiences of these events and, second, about their expectations for decontamination involving a large crowd. The aim was to explore the extent to which responders perceived non-compliance and anxiety as (crowd) problems during decontamination, and if so, how they felt that they could be addressed.

Responders with experience of decontamination perceived non-compliance and excessive anxiety to be rare, and suggested that orderly behaviour was more common. However, the majority of emergency responders with no experience of decontamination said they expected panic and non-compliance. They therefore emphasised the importance of “controlling”, rather than communicating with, the public.

The authors argue that “control”-based emergency management strategies can impact negatively on the relationship between the public and responders, and hence hinder effective management of an incident. It would therefore be beneficial to provide training for emergency responders on likely public behaviour during incidents involving decontamination.

This research extends previous research by facilitating a detailed understanding of emergency responders’ experiences and perceptions of managing incidents involving decontamination, and showing how these experiences and perceptions can affect the way in which such incidents are managed.

Effective communication has been recognised as an important issue for the management of incidents involving decontamination; evidence shows that failure to communicate effectively may result in increased public anxiety and non‐compliance. This paper aims to examine current provision for communicating with members of the public during decontamination, to facilitate the development of improved responder communication strategies.

To examine the current provision for communicating with members of the public, the authors reviewed open source decontamination guidance documents for responders, as well as published reports of emergency preparedness exercises involving decontamination.

The review of decontamination guidance documents showed that specific guidance for professional responders on how to communicate with the public during incidents that involve decontamination could be improved. Similarly, the review of published decontamination exercises shows that a stronger emphasis on communication with members of the public is needed, in addition to the use of exercises to evaluate the effectiveness of communication strategies.

The present research summarises existing evidence relating to how communication strategies employed by responders can shape public responses to decontamination. Analysed alongside current decontamination guidance for emergency responders, this evidence highlights potential gaps in planning for communicating with members of the public during decontamination. It is hoped that this will promote an increased understanding of the importance of communication during these types of incidents, which will in turn facilitate the development of more comprehensive responder communication strategies.

One hears sometimes of precocious children who can read before the average baby can talk, and this raises the interesting speculation as to when a child is old enough for books. Picture books and story‐telling undoubtedly make early appeal and educationists now consider book provision in nursery schools important in order to make the “under fives” book conscious before their schooling proper begins. More and more librarians now provide attractive A.B.C.'s such as Eileen Mayo's Nature's A.B.C. (Universal Text Books, Ltd., 6/‐) with its beautiful printing and illustrations; and gay picture books like Mary Shilla‐beer's We Visit the Zoo (Hutchinson, 4/6) in which there is just enough text to satisfy the young mind. Some librarians seem to have an objection to odd‐shaped books because of the shelving difficulty but the artist's requirements and the child's partiality for large‐size books should outweigh the slight inconvenience of arranging special shelving.

For the past twenty‐five years or so, the writings of George Orwell — especially his final novel 1984 — have been a popular topic for student research. From junior high through graduate school, interest in Orwell has been consistent. Book reports, term papers, and even seminars on Orwell are common‐place in the national curriculum. Now, as the year 1984 arrives, librarians at all levels — public, school, academic — must brace themselves for a year‐long onslaught of requests for biographical and critical material on Orwell.

IT is curious to note how many more books are written for boys than for girls. Considering the growing number of women writers, it might be expected that girls' books would predominate. It may be that women writers are canny enough to write with their eye on the boy reader knowing that while a totally feminine story will not attract boys, girls often read their brothers' books. Most of the children's classics appeal to both sexes—Peter Pan, Pinocchio, A Christmas Carol, Hans Brinker, The Wind in the Willows, and The Bastable Children, for example. Even the classics of adventure such as Treasure Island, and Robinson Crusoe, have their female devotees and therefore stand a greater chance of survival than books like Little Women, the Katy series, and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm. With the development of the “family story” popularised by E. Nesbit, there seems to have been a decline in the school story—at least among boys. Either they prefer natural tales of boys and girls together at home, or on holiday, or realistic adventures. A. S. Tring keeps a foot in all three camps, so to speak, with his tale of out‐of‐school activities, adventures and feuds between two day schools. His story entitled The Old Gang (O.U.P., 7/6) is told by the hero himself, in a racy style, and is amusingly illustrated by John Camp. Of the realistic adventure type is The Missing Legatee, by Wilfrid Robertson (O.U.P., 7/6), and it has its setting in the wilds of the Zambesi where the author himself has made expeditions, exploring and big game hunting. It satisfies the boy's demand for plenty of action and at the same time conforms to a good stylistic standard. Another tale of a search undertaken at great risk is David Gammon's Against the Golden Gods (Lutterworth, 5/‐) in which a seventeen year old boy goes out among the head hunters of Papua to rescue his captive father. Fog in the Channel, by Percy Woodcock (Nelson, 7/6) relates stirring adventures by sea, beginning with a collision in the fog when two schoolboys board a mysterious vessel supposed to be on secret service.

IN the nature of things the Library Association Conference this year cannot have the spectacular character of the jubilee one of 1950; but that does not mean it will be less effective or less useful. Edinburgh is the second city of the United Kingdom, at least in appeal to bookmen, and probably Scots would object to our order of the hierarchy. Apart from the public libraries, a place that has the National Library of Scotland, the Advocates, the Signet and the University libraries, to name only the principal ones, with many associations and treasures, must have great attractions. On looking over conference reports generally, one can infer that the one institution in a town that is not frequented by librarians in the week is the public library. The obstacle is no doubt occupation with the meetings, which many delegates are naturally unwilling to miss. But we do suggest that library visits by newcomers to Edinburgh might be quite as important, in present impression and lasting effect, as most ordinary meetings can be. Since it must be admitted that our business at Edinburgh is to attend meetings, restraint is essential, but at least the Central Library and the fine Leith Library should be squeezed into the personal programme.

A WRITER in another page suggests the necessity of agreement amongst librarians, especially on matters which concern the men and women overseas. This in a clear case is of moment in the question of education and the resettling of these young people, whose lives have been so grievously interfered with by their service. We have already indicated that there are opportunities for setting up centres of training that are better than we have had before. If, however, everything that has been planned can be the sport of a few hundred members at a conference, no progress is possible. Nor can we reach Utopia at a bound; there is sure to be something in the new plans of the Reconstruction Report, the new teaching scheme, the new syllabus, that somebody disapproves; that is inevitable. Let students be reassured, there will, and can be, no attempt to discount any certificates or qualification they already possess nor, under a year at least, can any new syllabus be used for examinations.