Warning Labels: Safety Compliance and the Effectiveness of Audio, Video, andWritten Instructions

摘要

This research compared the effectiveness of three different consumer media ofinstruction on warning and safety effectiveness. The three methods of instruction were designed for an electric-powered leaf blower and included the traditional written owner's manual, an audio-cassette tape, and videotape. The subjects were told that this was an experiment to test different types of instructions for operations, maintenance, assembly, and safety procedures of the leaf blower. Each group was tested for compliance to warnings, knowledge of warnings, and perception of danger when using a leaf blower. The results showed that subjects from the Video and Audio conditions scored significantly higher on a test for knowledge of safety than those with the written instructions. Subjects in the Video condition scored significantly higher for compliance to warnings than those in the other conditions. The use of video and audio media can be used to increase the user's knowledge and compliance for safety.