Beginning with several empirical papers in the late 1970's, there has been considerable research concerned with assessing the effectiveness of such attempted safety interventions as on-product warnings and safety signs. The focus of research on warnings has shifted from a debate on whether warnings work to systematic investigation of the factors that do or could influence safety-related product-user behavior. From the perspective of safety, the logical test of a warning must be reduction of the frequency and/or severity of accidents and injuries. A taxonomy of available research methods is described; strengths and problems associated with each method are discussed. Although research on topics related to warnings may legitimately address a wide variety of psychological issues, informed safety policymaking should rely primarily on well-controlled real-world studies. Within the restricted aim of making unambiguous contributions to generalizations that can inform safety policy, some methodological cautions are appropriate for both researchers and practitioners.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AyresT.J.GrossM.M.WoodC.T.HorstD.P.BeyerR.R.RobinsonJ.N. (1989). What is a warning and when will it work?Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 426–430
2.
AyresT.J.GrossM.M.HorstD.P.WoodC.T.BeyerR.R.AcombD.B. (1990). Do subjective ratings predict warning effectiveness? Presented at the annual meeting of the Human Factors Society
3.
BaltimoreC.MeyerR.J. (1969). A study of storage, child behavioral traits, and mother's knowledge of toxicology in 52 poisoned families and 52 comparison families. Pediatrics, 44, 816–820
4.
BouhatabA.D. (1991). Effects of individual characteristics, context and posted warnings used in industrial work places on hazard awareness and safety compliance. Dissertation Abstracts International, 52/04-B, 2234
5.
CallanJ.R.CardinalB.F.TolbertM.T.KellyR.T.GwynneJ.W.SawyerC.R. (1991). Assessing user compliance with procedures for soft contact lens care. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 703–707
6.
Culver-DickinsonP.VernbergD. D.SpykerD. A. (1982). The deterrent value of “Mr. Yuk” stickers. International Congress of Clinical Toxicology
7.
DawleyH. H.MorrisonJ.CarolS. (1980). Compliance behavior in a hospital setting: Employee and patients' reactions to no-smoking signs. Addictive Behaviors, 5, 329–331
8.
DeJoyD.M. (1989). Consumer product warnings: Review and analysis of effectiveness research. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 936–940
9.
DeJoyD.M. (1991). A revised model of the warnings process derived from value-expectancy theory. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1043–1047
10.
DesaulniersD. R. (1987). Layout, organization, and the effectiveness of consumer product warnings. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 56–60
11.
deTurckM. A.GoldhaberG. M. (1988). Consumers' information processing objectives and effects of product warnings. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 445–449
12.
DingusT. A.HathawayJ. A.HunnB. P. (1991). A most critical warning variable: Two demonstrations of the powerful effects of cost on warning compliance. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1034–1038
13.
DingusT. A.HunnB. P.WreggitS. S. (1991). Two reasons for providing protective equipment as part of hazardous consumer product packaging. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1039–1042
14.
DonnerK. A. (1990). The Effects of Warning Modality, Warning Formality, and Product on Safety Behavior. Masters Thesis, Rice University
15.
DorrisA. L.PurswellJ. L. (1977). Warnings and human behavior: Implications for the design of product warnings. Journal of Products Liability, 1, 255–264
16.
DuchonJ. C.LaageL. W. (1986). The consideration of human factors in the design of a backing-up warning system. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 261–264
17.
FergussonD. M.HorwoodL. J.BeautraisA. L.ShannonF. T. (1982). A controlled field trial of a poisoning prevention method. Pediatrics, 69 (5), 515–520
18.
FrantzJ.P.RhoadesT.P. (1991). A task analytic approach to the temporal and spatial placement of product warnings.Department of Industrial and Operations Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
19.
FrantzJ.P.MillerJ.M. (1992). The effect of product design and warning salience on the perception of safety-critical product attributes: A case study in infant carriers. Advances in Industrial Ergonomics and SafetyIV, 569–576
20.
FrantzJ.P. (1992). Effect of location and presentation format on attention to and compliance with product warnings and instructions. Unpublished research. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan
21.
FrantzJ.P. (1992). Effect of location and procedural explicitness on attention to and compliance with product warnings. Unpublished research. University of Michigan. Ann Arbor, Michigan
22.
FriedmannK. (1988). The effect of adding symbols to written warning labels on user behavior and recall. Human Factors, 30 (4), 507–515
23.
GambleK.A.KalsherM.J. (1990). Designing antecedent strategies for increasing safe driving: A pledgecard for encouraging belts and discouraging booze. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1091–1094
24.
GillR. T.BarberaC.PrechtT. (1987). A comparative evaluation of warning label designs. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 476–478
25.
GodfreyS.S.RothsteinP.R.LaugheryK.R. (1985). Warnings: Do they make a difference?Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 669–673
26.
GoldhaberG. M.deTurckM. A. (1989). A developmental analysis of warning signs: The case of familiarity and gender. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1019–1023
27.
GomerF. E. (1986). Evaluating the effectiveness of warnings under prevailing working conditions. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 712–715
28.
JanisI.L.FeshbachS. (1953). Effects of fear-arousing communications. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 48 (1), 78–92
29.
JaynesL. S.BolesD. B. (1990). The effect of symbols on warning compliance. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 984–987
30.
KaestnerN.WarmothE. J.SyringE. M. (1967). Oregon study of advisory letters: The effectiveness of warning letters in driver improvement. Traffic Safety Research Review, 11 (3), 67–72
31.
KerpelmanL.C. (1978). Evaluation of the effectiveness of outdoor power equipment information and education programs (AAI No. 78-27). Cambridge, MA: ABT Associates, Inc
32.
LanerS.SellR. G. (1960). An experiment on the effect of specially designed safety posters. Occupational Psychology, 34 (3), 153–169
33.
LehtoM. R. (1991). A proposed conceptual model of human behavior and its implications for design of warnings. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 73, 595–611
34.
LehtoM. R.FoleyJ. P. (1991). Risk-taking, warning labels, training, and regulation: Are they associated with the use of helmets by all-terrain vehicle riders?Journal of Safety Research, 22, 191–200
35.
LehtoM. R.MillerJ. M. (1988). The effectiveness of warning labels. In DenkensohnB.D.FlissA.A. (Eds.), Personal Injury Review — 1988 (pp. 468–524). New York: Matthew Bender
36.
LeventhalH. (1970). Findings and theory in the study of fear communications. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 5, 120–186
37.
Market Facts. (1980). Evaluation of the Impact of the Communications Antenna Labeling Rule. Consumer Product Safety Commission, No. CPSC-C-79-1165
38.
McCarthyG. E.HorstD. P.BeyerR. R.RobinsonJ. N.McCarthyR. L. (1987). Measured impact of a mandated warning on user behavior. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 479–483
39.
McCarthyR. L.FinneganJ.P.Krumm-ScottS.McCarthyG.E. (1984). Product information presentation, user behavior, and safety. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 81–85
40.
McCarthyR. L. (1987). Supplemental report. Howie v. Ford Motor Company. Failure Analysis Associates
41.
MillerJ. M.LehtoM. R.FrantzJ. P. (1990). Instructions & Warnings (The Annotated Bibliography). Ann Arbor: Fuller Technical Publications
42.
NelsonT. M. (1976). Hazard analysis on contact adhesive fires.Washington D.C.: U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, Bureau of Epidemiology
43.
NikmoradH. (1985). A Study of Behavioral Responses in Regard to the Warning Labels on Consumer Products. Unpublished masters thesis, University of Oklahoma
44.
OrwinR. G.SchuckerR. E.StokesR. C. (1984). Evaluating the life cycle of a product warning. Evaluation Review, 8 (6), 801–822
45.
OtsuboS. M. (1988). A behavioral study of warning labels for consumer products: Perceived danger and use of pictographs. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 536–540
46.
PurswellJ. L.SchlegelR. E.KejriwalS. K. (1986). A prediction model for consumer behavior regarding product safety. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1202–1205
47.
RobertsonL. S.HaddonW. (1974). The buzzer-light reminder system and safety belt use. American Journal of Public Health, 64 (8), 814–815
48.
RodriguezM. A. (1991). What makes a warning label salient?Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 1029–1033
49.
SchneiderK. C. (1977). Prevention of accidental poisoning through package and label design. Journal of Consumer Research, 4, 67–74
50.
SoumeraiS. B.AvornJ.GortmakerS.HawleyS. (1987). Effect of government and commercial warnings on reducing prescription misuse: The case of propoxyphene. American Journal of Public Health, 77 (12), 1518–1523
51.
SternG. S.BlythD. P.KreyeM. W.CoonsC. E. (1975). Perceived aversiveness of recommended solution and locus of control as determinants of response to danger. Journal of Research in Personality, 9, 37–47
52.
StrawbridgeJ. A. (1986). The influence of position, highlighting, and imbedding on warning effectiveness. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 716–720
53.
ThyerB. A.GellerE. S. (1987). The “buckle-up” dashboard sticker. Environment and Behavior, 19 (4), 484–494
54.
TokuhataG. K.ColfleshV.SmithM.RamaswamyK.DigonE. (1976). Consumer behavior and product injuries. Journal of Safety Research, 8 (3), 116–125
55.
WarnerK. E. (1977). The effects of the anti-smoking campaign on cigarette consumption. American Journal of Public Health, 67 (7), 645–650
56.
WogalterM. S.AllisonS. T.McKennaN. A. (1989). Effects of cost and social influence on warning compliance. Human Factors, 31 (2), 133–140
57.
WogalterM. S.BarlowT. (1990). Injury severity and likelihood in warnings. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 580–584
58.
WogalterM. S.GodfreyS. S.FontenelleG. A.DesaulniersD. R.RothsteinP. R.LaugheryK. R. (1987). Effectiveness of warnings. Human Factors, 29 (5), 599–612
59.
WogalterM. S.RashidR.ClarkeS. W.KalsherM. J. (1991). Evaluating the behavioral effectiveness of a multi-modal voice warning sign in a visually cluttered environment. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 718–722
60.
WogalterM. S.YoungS. L. (1991). Behavioral compliance to voice and print warnings. Ergonomics, 34 (1), 79–89
61.
WrightP. (1979). Concrete action plans in TV messages to increase reading of drug warnings. Journal of Consumer Research, 6, 256–269
62.
ZlotnikM. A. (1982). The effects of warning message highlighting on novel assembly task performance. Proceedings of the Human Factors Society, 93–97
