Effective Design of Workplace Risk Communications

This report focuses on the design of risk communication leaflets.

Qualitative and quantitative data from six studies (survey, cross-sectional and quasi-experimental) are reported.

These studies focused on risk communication design with respect to the use of ear defenders and manual handling, drawing on samples from the mining industry,foundries and NHS staff.

Three essential design features of leaflets were explored: usability (e.g.readability); usefulness (e.g.relevance) and framing.

Framing refers to presenting the same risk information in either a negative way (what you will lose if you do not follow safe working practice)or positive way (what you will gain from following safe working practice).

The results showed that some current Health and Safety Executive (HSE) leaflets were at a reading age level that was higher than desired for the national workforce, and were not easily comprehended.