Crisis management and distrust: Study of an industrial accident in France

Abstract

Most crises, whether ecological, humanitarian, economic or even social, are preceded by various warning signals which make it possible to trigger alerts. These alerts make it possible to prevent or limit human and material damage if they are delivered on time and if they allow stakeholders (decision-makers, populations, etc.) to prepare adequately for the coming crisis. Today, there are many systems that can pick up the warning signals of crises to limit their consequences. Warning systems are one of them, they have proven their effectiveness, but as with any system involving populations, a part of unpredictable remains. In this article, we are interested in industrial accidents and in particular the fire at the Lubrizol factory in Rouen (France), classified SEVESO, in September 2019. Following interviews with the population of the Rouen’s agglomeration, we set an example of distrust of public authorities’ decisions and give some leads on how an information system could reconcile populations and decision-makers.