By Roland Schmeling

Caution against “suitable handling”

“Why bother with writing a chapter on safety when no one is going to read it anyway?” A justifiable question indeed. In most cases, the reason quoted is escaping legal consequences. And that is exactly how safety notes would come across to readers: legally motivated dry patches, as if this is precisely what the author intended to achieve, namely, that the notes should go unread. An approach that has serious consequences, because the quality, the didactic design of the notes based on the latest inputs from science and technology, is crucial in effective safeguarding.

The manufacturer’s motivation for writing a chapter on safety is safeguarding: “Basic” rules that are independent of or placed hierarchically higher than the activities described in the instructions should be documented in a written and binding manner. If the user does not abide by these rules, then, it is hoped that the manufacturer will stand a better chance of defending himself against compensation claims in the event of any damage, if reference can be made to the chapter on safety.

The tricky part here is: Information which is known or can be known to the manufacturer to be incomprehensible, uninformative or inaccurate and which the user is therefore not going to read, can no longer be considered as conducive to safety without any restrictions. Thus, for instance, the interpretation of the law has stated that the notes on dangers should be designed in such a way that they actually reach the addressee: what matters is the effectiveness of the information that is provided, and not its mere presence!

It is certainly not the fault of a manufacturer if the user fails to obtain information through suitable sources of information that are provided. But to keep the source of information (manual) “suitable”, the manufacturer should also treat the chapter on safety as part of the instruction manual and hence part of the product, using the latest knowledge and state of technology. It is only in this way that it is possible to ensure the level of safety that the user is justified in expecting. The knowledge that a more attractive design also increases the probability that the chapter will be read, translates into the requirement for designing the chapter on safety in an attractive manner.

 

Information classes in chapters on safety

Normally, safety chapters usually contain various types of information, which can be classified into three broad groups, though all information need not necessarily fall into one of these groups:

• Conventions for presenting warning notes
• Organizational measures
• Situation-based measures (risks)

Conventions for presenting warning notes are not safety notes and should not be included in a chapter on safety, because: such content in a chapter on safety could easily give rise to the impression that the entire chapter and the information it contains is of little relevance. As a result, the user may skip reading these notes, or fail to read them with adequate attentiveness.

The organizational measures describe the general framework conditions and pre-requisites that are necessary for safe operations. These measures must be integrated with the organization of the operations. Some examples are: training, instruction and appointing personnel, defining rules for regulating responsibilities, access to passwords and keys, ban on making changes to the product, and maintaining a technically safe state (if necessary with reference to the maintenance plan), with notes on usage in areas exposed to danger of explosion, for instance, or providing special personal safety gear and the information and documentation obligations of the operator.

The situation-based measures describe measures for situations that may be present latently. It should be possible to recall these measures from memory for a safe response. Example: View of the completeness of the safety equipment, dealing with hazard types that are typical for the product, such as high pressure, high temperatures, noise or radiation, what to do in case of emergencies (such as fire), knowledge of and handling (spatial) danger zones and hazardous phases in the life cycle (temporal), or the use of personal safety gear such as respiration masks.

Situation-related measures that can be assigned to specific goals, should be presented in any case as warning notes in the parts of the manual that provide instructions for or describe the action. Whether such situation-based measures should also appear in the safety chapter will depend on the need to know these measures in advance. This is the case if

• The measures cannot be assigned to any special activities that are described in the part of the manual that provides instructions for the actions, such as unspecified monitoring activities
• The measures should be taken into consideration throughout the entire area of activity or throughout the learning phases, such as protection against noise, or
• The measures are so important for the safe use of the product that they need to be repeated in the safety-related parts of the manual due to didactic reasons.

The situational measures are not always individual measures that can be expressed in one neat sentence; these measures could also be safety related work routines or action schema, such as the sequence “Release – secure – ensure freedom from voltage – short circuit – barricade” especially in tasks involving electrical appliances, or product specific routines, such as testing special security equipment before starting work. Such routines can also be described in a closed sequence within the manual. A cross reference in the safety instruction can point to this sequence.

Unlike organizational measures that are meant to create a safe environment globally, the consequences of not heeding situation-based measures can usually be specified precisely.

Since the measures that are specific to a situation should be such that they can even be recalled from memory if the corresponding situation arises, these measures should be drafted in a way that meets very high didactic demands for the designing of information.

 

The Kindergarten parallel

To understand the importance of the didactic quality for basic safety instructions, the following parallel may be of help: a group of children in the pre-school age under the supervision of an educator wants to visit a playground in the neighborhood. The group needs to cross a street to reach the ground. To prepare the children for the upcoming traffic situation in the street, the teacher forms a sitting group. He talks about the dangers (nature and source of the danger), and draws up rules of conduct that can be implemented directly (these are the measures). He also talks about what could happen if the rules are not followed (consequences of non-compliance). In brief: he does exactly what the ANSI Z535.6, for instance, requires as content for basic safety instructions “grouped safety messages”.  On the whole, the impending situation is described in color and in concrete terms, so that the children can imagine all the details correctly, and thus motivates the children to incorporate their own experiences and imagination.

Half an hour later the group is at the traffic intersection. Now, one of the most important things that matter is whether or not the children will be able to recall the measures that they have discussed earlier. This will be the case if the educator has acted in a didactically wise manner. If he has just read out a list of rules monotonously, the power of retention among the children will be low. Unfortunately, many of the chapters on safety represent just this kind of list of rules.

Using this parallel, it is now possible to trace how useable and hence how effective the safety instructions should be. Just listing out the warnings one after the other, too, will not help in doing justice to the didactic requirements.

 

What enhances the capacity to retain?

Especially where situation-based measures are concerned, it is important to be able to recall the measures from memory in dangerous situations. But what enhances the retention capacity? Here are some of the factors that help a reader in recalling a text:

• Linking with existing knowledge
• Organization and outline that is clear and crisp: ANSI Z535.6: “meaningful organizational system”
• Addressing all levels of comprehensibility of a text, from the grammatical structure through words that are easy to understand and their meaning, to the clear function, such as making clear distinctions between descriptive explanations and measures in the formulation and design (pragmatic understanding)
• Supplementation through the use of media such as text, image and if necessary other (electronic) media
• Attractiveness, such as through the use of color, addressing the reader directly, providing examples and illustrations
• A balance between brevity and informative nature

The informative aspect, above all, is difficult to achieve, since texts that are highly informative often mean that concrete safety measures will have to be pinpointed, which in turn could go against the intentions of the manufacturer. It is not easy to design the contents of safety instructions in such a way that the reader perceives them as informative. However, if vague terms such as “suitable measures”, “appropriate equipment” or “careful handling” are used, then further precision will be needed. Often, it is also useful if the user can figure out when a measure can be counted as “suitable”, the factors that govern the choice of “appropriate equipment” and what “careful handling” includes or excludes!

 

Headings

An important aspect is the proper structuring, which should be reflected in the section headings. In the heading, the author summarizes an important aspect of the safety instruction that follows. Whether he goes into the details of the type of hazard, the source of the danger, the consequences or the essential measures, depends on the individual safety instruction and the remaining titles. On the whole, the title should evoke a meaningful picture. Since it is sometimes useful to manage safety instructions in a modular fashion, and customize them in a product specific manner, it is important to plan the safety instructions and their headings with foresight.

Here are some concrete examples with suggestions for improvement:

• “General precautionary measures for child safety”: Here the word “general” already sets the wrong pitch, indicating that no concrete information is to be found here. It would be better to rephrase this as: “Protecting children”
• “Driving under the influence of alcohol or medicines” (Source: Toyota): the heading describes the opposite of what is intended by the measure; the negation, which is basically difficult to remember, cannot be avoided. It would be better to rephrase this as: “No alcohol, no drugs”.
• “Other dangers”; the legal term used here has the effect of making the situation appear harmless, and is not informative. It would be better to rephrase this as: “Danger of crushing and being drawn in”.
• “Wrong usage that can be reasonably foreseen”. It would be better to reword this so that the headings address the concrete risks, one by one.

Standardization

In an authoring system that works on the basis of rational principles, it is not possible to dispense with standardization, both in terms of content and in terms of design. In terms of content, a safety instruction in a chapter on safety, too, should contain the following minimum information: please see also ANSI Z535.6, “grouped safety messages”:

• Revealing title
• nature of the danger and its source
• measures for avoiding the danger
• consequences of not adhering to the measure

This information already yields a standard structure or outline that is aligned with the function of the text and its significance, which can be backed with suitable rules for formulation. For instance, measures should be formulated in the active imperative form. Further rules for the number of words or for restricting the number of prepositional phrases would be absolutely in order.

Where the content is concerned, further elements could be useful in safety instructions, where necessary. These could also be standardized, for instance:

• explaining the functional interrelations between the type and source of the danger on the one side, and the consequences of not adhering to the measures
• reference to other sources of information
• illustrations which point out the source of the hazard
• illustrations which visualize the measures
• elements and that guide the reader’s attention and highlighting of information which is particularly relevant
• pictograms that could be reused elsewhere and hence reinforce the effects of familiarity
• learning elements such as mnemonics or rhymes for drilling in the action sequence
• naming and addressing special target groups (audiences)

In terms of design, too, safety instructions should satisfy didactic requirements. This includes, for instance, marking out the measures with a special list element, using the active voice in formulations, the use of color, forceful or attractive illustrations and a clear, uncluttered and readable font.

 

Comprehensibility and attractiveness

Why is it that comprehensibility and appeal stop at chapters on safety in many companies? Out of anxiety to avoid making mistakes, the responsibility for the chapters on safety is often relegated to the legal department. The legal department however usually lacks the necessary didactic competence and experience for designing information.

Needless to say, scrutinizing the safety instructions with a legal understanding is very important. The implementation, however, should be done by an information development professional. Once a text has been “legally approved”, hardly anyone would dare to make any changes to it.  The result: texts which are incomprehensible and hence ineffective would propagate for years through the documents. Furthermore, one consequence of such texts is that the portions that follow will usually go unread, even if these are written in a more lucid manner.

 

Summary

Safety instructions that are formulated well do not in themselves guarantee that they will be heeded. But a proper didactic design enhances the probability that the text will be read, and also enhances its retention. And last but not least, this also enhances the possibility of defense in the event of a damage suit. The key to success and safety lies, not in making a compromise with all those involved, but in a consistently implemented quality of information.

 

Literature

• Robinson, P. A. (2009): Writing and Designing Manuals and Warnings, CRC Press Inc.
• Schmeling, R. (2006): Achtung Warnhinweis! In: technische kommunikation, Heft 1, S. 30–35.