ON THE PRIORITIZATION OF SAFETY WARNINGS IN PRODUCT MANUALS

Most warning research has focused on how to best present individual ha zards on signs and labels. However, many products have multiple hazard s and to date there has been very little research on how to effectivel y present multi-hazard warnings. The present paper studies the sequenc ing of safety warnings in product manuals using warning statements fro m manuals of three power tools, each having multiple hazards associate d with their use, maintenance, and storage. This research also examine s the relationship between statement orderings and several user-belief dimensions. One group of 25 participants ordered sets of warning stat ements based on how they believed the warnings should be listed in the manuals. Another group of 25 participants rated each warning statemen t on importance, injury severity, injury likelihood, and prior awarene ss. The results provide a quantitative summary of preferred statement order that could be useful in assembling warning lists in manuals. Thr ee of the four belief dimensions had substantial negative correlations with mean rank; the fourth, prior awareness, showed a weaker relation ship. Empirical assessment of warning statements might be useful in pr ioritizing multiple warnings in product manuals to better transmit pro duct-related hazards to users. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.