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Subject:Re: Warnings and Cautions, research project From:nburns -at- NOAO -dot- EDU Date:Thu, 30 Sep 1993 09:11:57 MST
A good resource is "Procedure Writing principles and practices" by D.
Wieringa, C. Moore, and V. Barnes, Battelle Press, 1993 (tel.
1-800-451-3543). The chapter, "Warnings, Cautions, and Notes" confirms
Rose Norman's definitions for the same. It also discusses why actions
should not appear in warnings and cautions; that warnings and cautions must
identify a single hazard, and why not to include action items in cautions.
The book includes an extensive bibliographic reference on procedure
writing.
>Warnings and cautions in farm equipment product literature are
>the subject of a research project one of my graduate students is
>doing this term for a client who writes manuals for a business in
>Alabama. She is seeking information and research on product
>safety warnings for machinery, specifically:
>* guidelines for preparing and evaluating safety warnings
> - in manuals
> - on products
>* ANSI and other standards (she has one ANSI standard)
>* published or unpublished papers on the subject or related subjects
... I also have several conference papers from people
>working with procedures for the nuclear power industry. These
>last make the following distinction in terminology:
>* Warning - concerns matters that may lead to bodily harm
>* Caution - concerns matters that may harm the product or data
>* Note - concerns non-warning/caution material; usage similar to
> "footnote"
>*****************************************************************
>Rose Norman
>Associate Professor of English and
>Director of Business and Technical Writing
>English Department
>University of Alabama in Huntsville
>Huntsville, AL 35899
>Phone: 205/895-6320 Fax: 205/895-6949
>Internet: UAHRXN01 -at- ASNUAH -dot- ASN -dot- NET Bitnet: RNORMAN -at- UAHVAX1
>*****************************************************************
> "Conventionality is not morality." Charlotte Bronte
>*****************************************************************
Nancy Burns
National Solar Observatory, Tucson, AZ
nburns -at- noao -dot- edu