Clients with scientific and regulatory challenge often face reputational threats as well. Public opinion can quickly turn against companies that are perceived as flouting their legal responsibilities or their obligation to protect the health of employees, consumers or neighboring communities. Where the hazards involved are unfamiliar, such as the potential impact of a chemical exposure, greater anxiety may arise than with more commonplace dangers such as driving or poor diet.  

Media coverage of environmental, safety and health (ESH) matters can make the situation even more challenging.  Journalists generally lack a strong background in the sciences, and are not known for their dispassionate approach to such stories. The facts are sometimes massaged into a preset story line involving corporate greed, heroic activists and a demand for punitive government action.  

The professionals of The Sapphire Group have many years of experience making complex scientific matters accessible to audiences such as employees, community leaders and journalists. We will help clients develop hazard communication materials and other educational tools. The Sapphire Group will help stakeholders to grasp the nature and scope of hazards, and to place them in appropriate context. This will sometimes entail a comparison with more familiar risks that individuals readily accept. Where relevant, risk tradeoffs can be highlighted, for example, the role of chlorinated water in averting disease. 

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