Hazard Perception Based on Safety Words and Colors: An Indian Perspective

Abstract

Globalization and trade among developed and developing countries has increased the need of riskhazard perception safety color safety words

Color–concept associations: A cross‐occupational and ‐cultural study and comparison

“…3 Some studies have offered empirical evidence on how people associate colors with hazards and risks. [4][5][6][7][8][9] For instance, Braun and Silver 4 showed that the color of a signal word affected the perceived hazardous level. For example, the signal word "deadly" printed in red was perceived to be more hazardous than when it was printed in green.…”

A study of the relationship between color-concept association and occupational background for Chinese

“…For example, Hong Kong students, Hong Kong white-collar workers, and managerial staff of mainland China all denoted red as indicating ''caution,'' as in the result of Chan and Courtney's study [9]. However, previous studies have revealed evidence of a link between red and ''danger'' when that concept is conveyed by using either words [5,6,14] or symbols [4,14]. If red is used for ''danger'' and ''caution'' at the same time, then the line between these two concepts could be vague, and could possibly lead to inaccurate understandings of the intended messages.…”

“…Previous research has shown that occupation background has a significant effect on color perceptions. For example, steel workers [5] and industrial workers [6] associated yellow with the concept of ''caution,'' but managerial staff working in office environments [5] interpreted red as denoting ''caution.'' Misunderstanding the connoted meanings of colors can be dangerous for employees, especially when they misinterpret the colors used in safety-critical visual displays and systems such as warning labels or the interfaces of industrial equipment.…”

“…Although Courtney [10] examined individuals with various occupations concerning their color-concept associations, he did not indicate the differences in associations made by different occupational groups. Borade et al [6] focused on color application in the manufacturing industry by enrolling a group of Indian industrial workers to test their perceptions of hazards in terms of associations between nine safety words and seven colors; however, their study examined only male workers. Or and Wang [5] examined the associations between 10 knowledge of the color associations for populations working in the manufacturing industry and in offices.…”

Application Prospects of the Augmented Reality Technology for Improving Safety of Machine Operators

“…It seems that the reasons behind such assessment result from the social significance system, where the red colour usually means -"danger". The aforementioned system was detected e.g., in the course of investigations into perception of words and colours connected with danger, where it occurred that about 75% of subjects had considered the red colour to have meant "danger" (Baun&Silver, 1995;Borade et al, 2008). It was very important in view of the research completing also to find out what the subjects felt about different warning signals.…”