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Ho-Hum Warnings | |
| Associated Press WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Safety warnings are about as useful as your willingness to heed them, in the judgment of a Purdue University expert. Mark Lehto, associate professor of industrial engineering, says consumers will ignore warnings on cigarette, glue and alcohol labels if they think benefits outweigh risks. "If someone's out to have a good time, the benefits he sees in having fun may outweigh the risks he sees in driving drunk," says Lehto. "If you want people to behave more safely, you need something more dramatic than a warning label." Lehto, who has devoted much of his career to making safety guidelines more effective, recently published a study which tracked users of a glue product which carried a warning to ventilate the room while the product was being used. Only one out of 54 people heeded the warning, despite the glue's foul odor. "This study suggests that if someone's main goal is to complete a task, the benefits he perceives in finishing may outweigh the risks of skipping a safety step." Another problem relates to devices like smoke detectors. "If a warning system such as a smoke detector is too sensitive, it will almost always detect a problem, but it will also give off a lot of false alarms," he says. "After a while, some people won't pay attention to it any more and might react by turning it off completely, which isn't safe." He advocates developing adaptive warning systems that users could adjust to a sensitivity consistent with their lifestyles. Copyright 1996 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | |