'Bio-Safety' or 'Bio-Hazard'? Organizational Pursuit and Community Response to a Safety and Preparedness Initiative

托马斯·D·比米什是“生物安全”还是“生物危害”？组织追求和社区对安全和准备倡议的反应本研究调查了社区对拟议在美国三个社区安装国家生物遏制实验室(NBL)的反应。NBL被联邦政府标榜为提供地方、地区和国家保护，免受世界上最致命病原体的伤害的第一线。在每一个案例中，在相关研究领域拥有成熟医疗设施和强大声誉的知名大学都响应了国立卫生研究院的RFP，为联邦政府赞助和管理NBL。然而，对NBL表面上加强安全的倡议的一系列引人注目的反应-强烈反对(加利福尼亚州戴维斯)、日益增长的反对(马萨诸塞州波士顿)、没有重大反对(德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿)-突显了了解对旨在将风险降至最低并提高公共安全和准备的计划的不同反应的重要性。该项目试图回答的一般性问题包括：(1)哪些因素有助于解释普通人对变量的解释，对一些人来说，是促进“安全”，而对另一些人来说，是促进“风险”？以及，(2)政策建设和赞助组织对这一倡议的战略追求在周围社区接受和/或拒绝NBLS方面发挥了什么作用？这些问题将通过案例比较的方式进行调查，每个地点都是分析的单位--社区和相关的NBL赞助商组织。该项目将采用多种方法，包括深入访谈、实地研究、媒体分析和档案记录，以得出结论。该项目的研究目标和预期贡献有三个方面：(1)改善关于社区印象中“什么是安全的”和“什么是增强安全的”基础的知识和理论；(2)记录社区对NBL作为一项公共卫生和准备倡议的概念如何影响政策执行过程；以及(3)建议一般管理和政策选择，以帮助创建和实施公众更容易接受和/或不太可能拒绝的准备倡议。

Thomas D. Beamish'Bio-Safety' or 'Bio-Hazard'? Organizational Pursuit and Community response to a Safety and Preparedness InitiativeABSTRACTThis study investigates community response to the proposed installation of National Bioncontainment Laboratories (NBL) in three U.S. communities. The NBL have been billed by the federal government as the frontline in providing local, regional, and national protection from the world's most virulent pathogens. In each case, reputable Universities with mature medical facilities and strong reputations in related fields of study responded to a National Institutes of Health RFP to sponsor and manage the NBL for the federal government. Yet, a remarkable range of reactions to the NBL's ostensibly safety enhancing initiative-strong opposition (Davis, CA), growing opposition (Boston, MA), no significant opposition (Galveston, TX)-highlights the importance of understanding variable response to programs intended to minimize risk and increase public security and preparedness. The general questions the project seeks to answer include: (1) What factors help explain variable interpretation by the lay-public of the same initiative as, for some, promoting "safety" and for others promoting "risks?" And, (2) What role does policy construction and the strategic pursuit of this initiative by the sponsor organizations play in the NBLs acceptance and/or rejection by surrounding communities? These questions will be investigated through case comparison in which each location is the unit of analysis--both the community and associated NBL sponsor organization. The project will rely on a multi-method approach involving in-depth interviews, field study, media analysis, and archival records to draw conclusions. Triangulation of these data will provide the basis for conclusions.The project research objectives and anticipated contributions are threefold: (1) to improve knowledge and theory concerning the basis for community impressions of "what is safe" and "what is safety enhancing;" (2) to document how community conceptions of the NBL, as a public health and preparedness initiative, effect(ed) the policy implementation process; and (3) to suggest general administration and policy options that will aid in the creation and implementation of preparedness initiatives that the public more readily accepts and/or that they are less likely to rejected.