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Subject:RE: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes? From:"Lippincott, Richard" <RLippincott -at- as-e -dot- com> To:<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 4 Nov 2008 16:22:40 -0500
Geoff Hart said:
>We need to design documentation around that
>principle... for example, by building warnings and cautions into the
>steps rather than setting them aside.
In my opinion, the approach has to be two fold: the procedural step has
to tell you the safe way to do it, but an offset admonition has to
explain the consequences. Offset in order to capture attention, offset
so that it isn't missed.
If I recall from yesterday's digest, Geoff gave an example that a
procedure shouldn't just tell a person working with electrical
components to avoid working in a wet area but instead provides the
instructions to dry the work area. I agree, but I'd also add a big fat
can't-miss-it admonition about the electric shock danger from wet
surfaces.
I can think right off the top of my head of a couple of aviation
examples where the correct procedure didn't also include a warning of
the consequences, and the result were literally a disaster.
Probably the most famous is the American Airlines Flight 191 crash in
Chicago, May 25, 1979. The DC-10 maintenance manuals clearly explained
the correct procedure for engine removal (it involved buying some
expensive equipment from McDonnell-Douglas), but apparently never
explained why it was a very very bad idea to avoid the fairly common
practice of using a forklift (cheaper and faster, and routine in the
aviation industry).
American Airlines chose to use the forklift. The result was a crash that
killed 273 people.
It's got to be a two-pronged approach. The steps should explain the
right way to do the procedure, the safety admonition should explain what
can go wrong if you don't.
Rick Lippincott
Technical Writer
AS&E*
American Science & Engineering
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