It seems that warning and risk communications are everywhere. Probably within your field of view at the moment there may be a bottle of correction fluid that will have on it a warning that it could kill you if you deliberately concentrate and inhale it, or a desk lamp warning you that you could start a fire if you use a bulb bigger than 75 watts. Questions regarding how best to communicate warnings and risk information, whether such communications are likely to be effective, and what factors influence the communication process are of importance to a wide range of today's society. Stimulated by the tremendous growth in litigation on product liability and associated personal injury, research into communicating warnings effectively has developed rapidly over the last few years. This book addresses directly and comprehensively the major issues in theory, research and applications of warnings and risk communication, bringing together the leading international authorities in the field.
Key Features:
* An authoritative sourcebook edited by leading authorities with contributions from highly respected researchers in the field
* The perfect reference guide for designers and manufacturers of industrial and consumer products, members of the legal profession as well as product liability and occupational health and safety specialists
* Of particular interest to researchers and postgraduates in the fields of industrial engineering, technical writing, communications and psychology

A technical discussion that includes theory, research, and application, this book describes warning design standards and guidelines; aspects of law relevant to warnings such as government regulations, case/trial litigation, and the role of expert testimony in these cases; and international, health/medical, and marketing issues. Broken into thirteen major sections, the chapters cover theory, research, applications, and law, and many different perspectives on topics associated with warnings. The Selected Applications and Case Studies section highlights topics of interest and gives real world examples of problems and their solutions. No other book gives a more comprehensive treatment. This text will appeal to those whose study, work, or research concerns the design of hazard communications by linguistic, symbolic, and auditory means. The blending of research, theory, and applications also make the book attractive to safety engineers, health and medical professionals, occupational safety specialists, consumer product and industrial equipment designers, government regulators of consumer products and industrial safety, documentation writers, and plaintiff and defense attorneys involved in product- and premises-liability claims.

This book has 18 case study chapters investigating various injury scenarios through the use of a Human Factors and Ergonomics (HFE) analysis. Each injury scenario derives from one or more similar lawsuits (but names, places and some of the details are fictionalized). The scenarios describe a 'slice of life' of people interacting with products, equipment, tasks, and environments before they are seriously hurt. The forensic analysis that follows each scenario gives a background of prior similar events and systematically examines potential causes leading to the injury event. There is emphasis on the person-machine interface, human error, hazard analysis, hazard control and a model of communication-human information processing (C-HIP). Chapters are authored by highly experienced expert witnesses in HFE. The methods used are general techniques that can be applied to other injury scenarios, but would be better if employed earlier in a product's life cycle to prevent or limit injury. The first three chapters introduce concepts useful for the analyses in the case study chapters. The last chapter offers some broad take-away points that cut across several of the case studies. Features contributions by persons who have extensive experience in HFE and who have served professionally in the role of an expert witness in various legal cases mostly in product liability Gives a broad range of situations to illustrate where HFE considerations could improve product or environmental safety. There is an emphasis on children/caregivers, and adult activities such as driving Uses mitigation strategies to reduce the likelihood of occurrence and severity of adverse events Includes a first-person scenario at the beginning of each chapter Allows the lessons learned to be adaptable to other domains where people interact with products and environments