Risk Communication in School Risk Management: Focus on Responses to the Incident of Sick School Syndrome (SSS) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS)

Abstract

Even though the outbreak of sick school syndrome (SSS) and multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) in schools has recently been recognized as an issue, no sufficient countermeasures have yet been developed to deal with the health hazards as risk management. This study aim is to clarify the issues found in the model of risk management applied by the MEXT and in risk communication, which is the mainstay of risk management to ensure the safety of children, based on a case study of a school that suffered from chemical sensitivity, and to make suggestions for the improvement of the risk management guidelines in the future.