Recognizability and Effectiveness of Warning Symbols and Pictorials

Abstract

In this study we sought to determine the relative effectiveness of pictograms for a group of 139 subjects ranging in age from 17 to 83. We gave a pictogram identification task for 16 pictograms from the Westinghouse Product Safety Label Handbook (1981) to subjects. Pictogram identification ranged from 100% to completely unrecognizable. Generally, pictorials which depicted simple, clearly identifiable hazards or protective equipment were more identifiable than symbols. Pictograms which showed the injury occurring to a hand rather than the entire human figure were also more recognizable. Finally, to explore more than simple pictograms identification, we presented subjects with three pictograms: We asked half of the subjects to list all of the ways they could be hurt, injured or killed as well as any precautions they would take while using a product displaying one of the pictograms. The other half of the subjects endorsed precautions that they would observe on a checklist of possible precautions. In general, subjects were able to name at least one of the hazards associated with each graphic, but they generally did not name all of the hazards for a given pictogram. Sex and age effects are commented on in the paper.