Re: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes?

Subject: Re: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes?
From: Deborah Hemstreet <deborah -dot- hemstreet -at- gmail -dot- com>
To: "Lippincott, Richard" <RLippincott -at- as-e -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:40:27 -0500

However, again, it depends on the type of writing you are doing.

For example, when I was documenting medical devices, we had an entire
chapter of "warnings" - most of these were required by certain
certifying bodies. In addition, we had other warnings and cautions that
had to be displayed in various places in the text - sometimes in what
were truly awful places, as per comments from approving bodies such as
the FDA.

I will never forget a note we had to enter because of a certifying body
who required that a particular text be entered, that meant nothing to
me, or anyone in our office. We kept asking the body for an explanation
and they insisted on us using the text as is. It turned out the person
was not a native English speaker. When he left his job and we appealed a
couple years later, we were able to modify the text to something
comprehensible. But you should have seen the notes I got from the
translators!

Deborah

Lippincott, Richard wrote:
> 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
> 829 Middlesex Turnpike
> Billerica, MA 01821-3907
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>
>
>
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RE: Is there a study on reading warnings, notes?: From: Lippincott, Richard

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