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Safety pictograms: are they getting the message across?
1Department of Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham, UK.
Applied Ergonomics
|October 13, 1998
Summary
Consumer safety pictograms are often poorly understood, especially abstract ones. Warnings on toys do not significantly influence parents
Area of Science:
- Consumer product safety
- Human-computer interaction
- Risk communication
Background:
- Pictograms are increasingly used for consumer safety information.
- Effective comprehension and impact of pictograms on consumer behavior are critical.
- Existing research highlights variability in pictogram understanding and effectiveness.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess UK comprehension levels of 13 product-related pictograms.
- To evaluate the impact of different warning styles on noticeability and compliance.
- To determine the influence of pictograms and text on parents' toy purchasing decisions.
Main Methods:
- Developed a novel method to measure pictogram comprehension levels.
- Conducted experiments to test comprehension of 13 UK product pictograms.
- Investigated the effect of warning styles and text on toy purchasing decisions using a European Standard pictogram for small parts warnings.
Main Results:
- Most surveyed pictograms demonstrated poor comprehension, particularly abstract designs.
- Parents' toy purchasing decisions were primarily influenced by perceived product hazard, not warning design.
- The effectiveness of pictograms and text messages on intended compliance requires further investigation.
Conclusions:
- Pictograms, especially abstract ones, have limitations in conveying safety information effectively.
- Perceived product risk is a stronger driver of consumer decisions than warning labels.
- Recommendations are provided for optimizing the use of pictograms in consumer safety communication.
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