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I do not read disclaimers because they do not contain any information I have ever needed when using a product.
My company is in the medical industry, and we are forced to put three chapters of regulatory and safety information at the front. I skip all three chapters every time I open the document and assume our users do as well. The only reason we put it up front is because I do not have enough authority in the company to get it removed or into its own stand-alone format.
-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+bdavies=imris -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+bdavies=imris -dot- com -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On Behalf Of Paul Goble
Sent: May-05-11 11:28 AM
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: Disclaim THIS!
Kevin wrote:
> The disclaimer book (as well as the instructions, sometimes) is
> obviously intended for many more products and models than just the one that I have purchased.
One thing that's beginning to change this practice--at least for anything with moving parts--is the European Machinery Directive, 2006-42-EC. It's quite explicit about including specific content--not just warnings--in the instructions, and about translating the full instructions into ALL of the EC languages. So far, only the hoist and tractor and industrial saw manufacturers seem to be complying, but the regulation applies to ANYTHING with moving parts. Even the really big companies don't seem to be complying yet , so I'm curious to see what happens. For low-volume, inexpensive, yet complicated products, compliance may well mean, "forget selling in Europe" if someone decides to fully enforce the regulation. And for small businesses who may not even have a full-time tech writer or regulatory compliance expert, it looks especially dire. I foresee some variation of the current practice taking hold (maybe a safety booklet for a family of products, translated into French-Italian-German-Spanish), but I doubt that generic boilerplate warnings will be enough.
Is anyone else here involved in Machinery Directive documentation?
--
Paul Goble
Omaha, Nebraska
pgcommunication -at- gmail -dot- com
www.pgcommunication.com
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