The role of equipment warning labels in the industrial workplace

Among the many ways in which workers can get safety information, the role of equipment warning labels has not been well articulated. Presumably, warning labels help prevent accidents, but questions remain about how well those labels can be expected to work. This essay describes how contextual analysis can assist our understanding of warning label effectiveness. A contextual approach was conceptualized in terms of underlying communication variables and an exploratory study was conducted in which workers were asked if they noticed and remembered warning labels on an industrial table saw that they used over a 3-month period. Results showed that equipment warning labels had a limited impact on workers. The contextual approach explained the relative effectiveness of multiple sources of information. Implications for safety training and accident liability are discussed.