When Is A Warning Adequate? Perspectives From Document Design
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Carstens, Adelia
Universiteit Stellenbosch Taalsentrum
2002

Abstract:

Although safety information is hardly ever read by users of appliances such as hair-dryers warnings must be included in manuals to protect manufacturers from litigation lawsuits. The law stipulates that a warning is adequate when the reasonable user is likely to read it, and when it sufficiently alerts the user both to the nature and degree of the danger. The present study was aimed at examining to what extent regular users of hair-dryers are able to calculate risks that are not explicated in safety instructions; and to determine whether/how users' estimation of the severity of a risk could be paired to the nature of the consequences of non-compliance. As predicted by the researcher the majority of respondents were acquainted with the nature and the level of danger associated with contact between electrical current and water, but were unable to calculate the risks associated with a significant number of other safety instructions. A redesign would, however, require the active involvement of graphic designers, subject experts (electrical engineers and products liability experts) as well as a second round of user-evaluation.