Considering the Adequacies and Inadequacies of Safety Icons

Safety icons need to be more recognizable. Even though safety icons are becoming more consistent due to harmonization, they are not always recognized, which contributes to customer and worker dissatisfaction; customer and worker fatality, illness, and injury; material and equipment damage; and/or loss of corporate reputation. A pilot study in which readers/users identified decontextualized safety icons enabled an analysis that spotlights adequacies and inadequacies. The results may influence icon design in ways that improve audience compliance with warnings about safety