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EFFECTIVENESS OF WARNING LABELS AND

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presented at ErgoCon 98

fu^*r /O"*{,-o*,,-

EFFECTIVENESS OF WARNING LABELS AND SIGNS:

AN UPDATE ON COMPLIANCE RESEARCH

T. Ayres, C. Wood, R. Schmidt, D. Young, and J. Murray

Exponent Failure Analysis Associates
The number of published studies of the behavioral effectiveness of warnings has increased
dramatically in the past five years. Most of the newer studies deal with laboratory rather
than real-world behavior- The results of more than 2O years of research demonstrate the
difficulty of changing product user behavior and improving safety via warning labels.

The pace of research on the behavioral

effectiveness of warning labels and signs has
increased across the years. The first known
published study appeared in 1960 (Laner & Sell,
1960), and was followed by only one additional
report in that decade. The 197Os saw the
appearance of B more studies. and there were
over 25 in the BO's. To date, over 5O have
oeared since 199O. The proliferation of
.arnings research in a wide variety of
conferences and journals has made it difficult to
keep abreast of all reports.
ln the first extensive review of research
on warnings, McCarthy et al. (1984) found a
large number of papers that dealt with warningsrelated issues but very few that reported on
behavioral effectiveness - the extent to which
product-usage behavior is modified by a warning
label or sign. By 1992, many more behavioral
effectiveness studies were available, and we
attempted to collect and categorize them
according to the type of study (Ayres et al.,
1992). Most laboratory or contrivedenvironmenl studies (in which subjects know
that they are participating in an experiment)
could be considered product-obvious because
subjects knew which products or tasks were the
focus of the experimenter's interest; a few
studies were product-disguised in that subjects
were led to regaid the products of interest as
. '.r incidental to the experimental focus. Real/d studies involved either experimenls set up
oy the researchers to study the behavior of
unsuspecting subj'ects, or ob3ervations of
responses to situationS not created by the
researchers. Although contrived-environment

studies are the easiest to perform and to control,

real-world observations ideally cafiy the greatest
assurance of reflecting the actual effects and
likely safety impacts of warnings; real-world
experiments were said to offer the best mix of
control and generalizability.
The categorized table of studies published
in 1992 has been updated as shown in Table 1 .
This includes studies we have identified to date,
including one early paper (Piccolino, 1966) not
included in our previous article; all papers are
referenced here- Conference papers are not
listed if the research is included in a later journal
paper. Warnings effectiveness studies that had
been included in our 1992 table but which did
not involve labels or signs have been omitted
from this update.

While it is hoped that this compilation is

reasonably complete, there may be a number of
additional studies not included. Some areas of
research that are included but have not been
exhaustively searched include pharmaceutical
labeling, cigarette package labeling, and road
sign warnings.
What do these many papers tell us about
the conditions under warning labels and signs are
likely to affect product user behavior? lt has
become clear that compliance with warnings can
be produced fairly reliably under controlled
laboratory conditions with subjects who are
aware that they are being studied. Although
dramatic failures continue to be reported (e.g.,
Hatem & Lehto, 1995; McGrath, 1994; Medoff
& Crabb, 1997), most papers report better-thanzero compliance in contrived-environment

To be presenterl at

ErgoCon 9g

?xperiments. The development of paradigms

with reliably better-than-zero compliance, such
as the chemical mixing and gluing studies, has
facilitated parametric investigation. The actual
level of compliance in these studies is found to
be affected by a variety of variables including
cost of compliance, time pressure, conspicuity,
placement, and others.
Contrived-environment studies continue
to dominate the research, representing over twothirds of compliance studies published in 1gg2 or
later. This is unfortunate given the difficulty of
generalizing in this area: most of the contrivedenvironment studies report better-than-zero
compliance for at least some conditions,
whereas many of the real-world studies
demonstrate the difficulty of obtaining
compliance.
The importance of a methodological
taxonomy becomes clear when trying to make
sense of such apparently contradictory findings.
Cox et al (1997) performed meta-analysis on the
15 warning-label studies they could find that
eported compliance in both control and
experimental conditions; they concluded that
warning labels had a significant positive effect
on compliance, and that effect sizes were
smaller (though still significantly positive| with
non-student than with student subjectsAlthough the authors note that "several of the
studies were suceptible to demand effects,
because subjects knew they were in some soft
of study and did not use the products in their
natural habitats" [p. 2OOi, they may not have
appreciated the possible extent of this problem.
ln fact, out of the 1 5 studies used for the
meta-analysis, 12 are classified here as
contrived-environment studies. The three realworld studies had a mix of findings: Thyer &
Geller (i987) found increased passenger seatbelt usage when a dashboard sign was combined
with the social influence of the driver; Gomer
(1986) found an ambiguous pattern of increasing
respirator usage (an increase from day 1 to day 2
without adding any warning, and a similar further
rcr'?s from day 2 to day 3 with a warning
label added to bags of limestone; sample size
was too small for the effects to reach statistical
significance); Lehto & Foley (1989) found no
relation between the presence of warning labels

on all-terrain vehicles and the observed usage of

helmets. lf the meta-analysis had been restricted
to the 12 contrived-environment studies, a clear
picture of effective warning labels would have
emerged; on the other hand, if attention is
restricted to the three real-world studies,
certainly there is no basis for concluding that
warning labels are likely to change behavior
without additional influences such as social
pressure.
The results of the real-world studies listed
in the right half of Table 1 display an interesting
pattern. Most of the recent real-world
experiments obtained positive behavior changes,
generally in association with out-of-order signs
(e.9., Wogalter & Young, 1991; Brelsford et al.,
1994) or social pressure (e.g., Malouff et al.,
1993; Wogalter, Allison & McKenna, 1gB9).
None of the 21 real-world observational studies,
however, reported substantial and unequivocal
positive behavior changes associated with
warning labels or signs; most found no positive
change whatsoever. lt appears that
experimenters are becoming adept at contriving
field conditions in which warning compliance can
be induced, but that the findings have not led to
the implementation of warnings that are
effective beyond the reach of the experimenters.
The challenge of translating laboratory findings
to practical benefits still remains.
Recent reviews of warnings research
recognize the paramount importance of
behavioral compliance and ulitmately of accident
prevention as the purpose of a warning (e.g.,
Andrews, 1995; Edworthy & Adams, 1996;
Stewart & Martin, 1994; Hilton, 1993; Laughery
& Wogalter, 19971. There have also been
suggestions made as to the factors that may
prevent warnings from being effective in many
practical situations, such as the expectations
people bring (DeJoV, 19971, the problem of
frequent false alarms (Papastavrou & Lehto,
1996), the bases for behavioral choice (Ayres et
al-, in pressi, and the prevalence of rule- and
skill-based behavior (Lehto & Papastavrou,
1993). Unfortunately, such considerations have
not yet played a role in the development of
standards; the recent revision of ANSI ZS3S.4,
the product safety sign and label standard, is
concerned primarily with format issues (Martin &

To be presented at ErgoCon 98

'eppa, 1997). lt is to be hoped that

.xperiments and observations conducted in reaiworld settings will receive increasing attention in
the future.

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SF-R-98-O3-53

To be presented at

ErgoCon 98

Table 1: Behavioral Studies of Warning Label and Sign Effectiveness Through 1997
Year

Product

Product-Obvious Contrived-Environ ment Erperiments

Year Author

Product

Real-World Experiments

'17
82

Dorris

Hammer

Hoist

Zlotnik

Motor
Knife, saw, router, hammer
Knife, saw, router, drain cleaner

Stairway
L,awnmower
Antacid
Cigarette
Chemical (Mr. Yuk)
Chemical (Mr. Yuk)
Phone, copier, dooq fountain
Limestone dust
Seat bclt
Srvimming pool
Elevator
Seat bclt
Wet floor
Raquctball goggles, spray bottle

86

Nikmorad
Purswell
Strawbridge

87
87

Desaulniers
G. McCarthy

8'l

Wogalter
deTurck

95

Racicot

Adhesive
Fabric protector
Infant car seat
Chemical
Oven cleancr
Drain cleancr
Jigsaw, circular saw
Fuel, paint rcmovcr
Chemical
Fabric protector, grindcr
Chemical
Chernical
Chcmical
Contact lens
Tilc clcaner
Chemical
Chcmical
Chemical
Adhesivc remover
Clue
Leaf blowcr
Pot cleaner
Chcmical
Chemical
Hammer, air hose
Baftery cable
Chcmical
Chainsaw
Pool test kit, adhesivc
Chcmical

95

Fuller

Camera

95
96
96
97
97

Wogalter

Computcr

Bushman

Movies

Conzola
Glover

Computer program
Road sign simulation
Hammer

88
88
89

Friedmann
Otsubo
Venema

89
90

Wogalter
Donner

EE

Jaynes

Wogalter

9l

Bouhatab

9l

Callan
Dingus
Rodriguez
Wogalter, Rashid
Wogalter, Young
Chy-Dejoras
Wogalter
Fork

9I
9t
9t
91

92

92
93
93
93

Hughes

Wogalter
Magumo
McGrath
Wogalter, Kalsher
Wogalter, Racicot

94

Zeitlin

95

Braun

Medoff

Alcohol
Elcvator

Real-World Observations

Product-Disguised Contrived-Envi ronment Experiments

Sun lamp
Stem
Chemical (Mr. Yuk)
77
Schneider
c?
Electric heater
ciil
File
Frantz, Rhoadcs
93
Drain clcancr
Frantz et al
93
Watcr rcpcllent scalcr
Frantz
94
Ovcn cleaner
deTurck
Computcr progmm
Cox
95
Elcctric cord
95
Duffy
Gluc
Hatem
95
Glue
Kalsher
97

75

94

Year of publication, I 9-.

Onll'thc first author is givcn crccpr rvhcrc

an

additional nanrc is nccdcd to distinguish bet*'ccn studics

Adhcsive
Household products
Cigarettc
CB antenna
Saccharin

Utility vehiclc
Pharmaceutical
Cigarette

Tirc
All-tcrrain vehicle
Alcohol
Aspirin
Alcohol
Alcohol
Alcohol
All-terrain vehicle
Skiing, scuba
Chemical
Seat belt
Cigarcttc
Cigarettc