Communicating Severity of Hazard with the Signal Word on a Safety Sign

An experiment examined five signal words on safety signs for effectiveness at communicating information about severity of a hazard. Perceived severity was rated by 59 college students for the signal words Deadly, Danger, Warning, Caution, and Notice. Results indicated that Deadly communicated the highest ratings for severity. Danger was second. Warning and Caution were tied for third. The lowest ratings were for Notice.

Case Study of an Ergonomics Training Program for Nursing Home Workers

This paper describes a case study of a labor-based ergonomics-training program that makes use of some effective worker training methods. The program focus was on ergonomics awareness and back injury prevention for nursing home workers. It was developed and conducted by a not-for-profit organization affiliated with the Service Employees International Union. Training methods included the train-the-trainer model and the small group activity method. The investigation also compared the program components with those identified by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) as being key elements in effective safety training.

Effectiveness of Colors used on Safety and Health Signs for Communicating Severity of Injury

Signs are used extensively in workplaces and on products to identify hazards and provide instructions for appropriate behavior. A fundamental element of these signs is the signal-word panel located at the top of the sign. The colors and words in this panel are intended to convey information about the hazard identified. One type of hazard information concerns the severity of injury/illness associated with the hazard. The standard of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for facility signs uses three severity categories: 1) death or serious injury, 2) minor or moderate injury, and 3) property damage. The standard specifies which signal-word panel format, including color, to use based in part on the severity category. The purpose of this study was to determine if college students associate color with severity. The sample population consisted of 59 students tested in nine small groups. Twelve signs were shown to them in random order. Five of the signs had a color for the background of the signal-word panel. The colors were red, orange, yellow, blue, and gray. The signal word was a nonsense word and the text panel contained repetitions of the letter x in sentence format. Subject rated their impressions of the colors using two ordered rating scales for severity. Results indicated that color had a highly significant effect on severity ratings. Median ratings were generally consistent with the ANSI standard, except for orange. Red rated highest on both scales. Blue and gray rated lowest. Yellow and orange were in between red and blue. According to the ANSI standard, orange should indicate the same severity as red. These results indicated that orange was associated with less severity than red. Apparently, the ANSI standard's use of orange to identify a hazard associated with death or a serious injury is questionable.

Comparison of Student Versus Employee Test Populations for Warning Sign Research Based on Severity Ratings for Signal Words

Most studies of warning signs involve undergraduate students as subjects. This paper reports a direct comparison of findings from an undergraduate population and an employed population. The 48 employed subjects from this study were compared with 59 undergraduate subjects from a companion study. Subjects from both populations were shown the same signs and asked to rate the severity level connoted by each sign. The signs differed only in signal word. Results for each population indicated that signal word had a highly significant effect on severity ratings. When the two populations were compared for ratings of each signal word, the only significant difference was for Caution. Median ratings of each population were the same: Deadly (4), Danger (3), Warning (2), Caution (1), and Notice (0).

The Technocrat - v. 35, no. 3

In this issue...Winter Break, Mining City Taxi, Pat Hansen, Oredigger football, volleyball, Petroleum Engineering, coffee, Professor Bryce Hill, surveillance

The Technocrat - v. 35, no. 2

In this issue...2014 Elections, native fish restoration, Ryan Zinke, John Lewis, Academic Center for Excellence, climate change, interpersonal communication, student opinion

Risk Reduction Strategies: Past, Present, and Future

Several respected authors have proposed short lists of all strategies for controlling hazards or reducing risks from hazards. This article reviews those attempts and proposes an improved list of nine risk reduction strategies.

The Dark Side of Leadership: Dealing with a Narcissistic Boss

Some of the defining characteristics of narcissists include a grandiose sense of self-importance, preoccupation with success and power, a sense of infallibility, and a supreme confidence in their ability and intelligence. Ironically, many of these characteristics are rewarded in business organizations, which may explain why there seems to be so many narcissists in management positions. Assuming we will be dealing with narcissists throughout our career, it makes sense for us to understand what makes them tick, and more importantly what we can do to work with them in a constructive manner.

The Effect of Respirator Wear on Blood Lactate During Maximal Exertion

The impact of a filtering half-face respirator and a half-face supplied air respirator use on blood lactate production was assessed during maximal exertion to determine if anaerobic strain increased compared to no respirator use. Twenty-eight participants performed a 30 second cycling Wingate anaerobic test (WAnT) wearing a half-face respirator. Blood lactate production was measured to evaluate if there was an increase in anaerobic strain from wearing a tight fitting half-face respirator compared to wearing no respirator. A supplied air respirator WAnT was then performed using 18 participants from the first experiment to evaluate if supplied air decreased anaerobic strain. Data from both experiments were compared to evaluate differences in the physiological effects due to respirator use during maximal exertion. A survey was administered following the second WAnT experiment to measure the participants' perception of acceptability and impact of supplied air respirator use in workplace. The blood lactate levels measured directly after the WAnT yielded lower overall mean values during the half-mask respirator trial (12.1 mmollL) and supplied air respirator trial (12.2 mmollL) than the no respirator trial (13.1 mmoI/L). However, differences in blood lactate levels were not statistically significant (p =0.597). Participants reported an average acceptability of 92.3% to wearing the supplied air respirator while performing light work. However, the average acceptability decreased as the exertion increased to moderate (78.8%) and heavy (46.6%) workloads. The supplied air respirator used provided no significant reduction in anaerobic strain within this study group compared to either the filtering half-face respirator or the no respirator condition. However, there were differences in physiological effects of respirators on each gender identified in this study. Further assessment of the anaerobic impact of respirators on each gender should be conducted.

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 3

In this issue...Student Union Building, International Club, Y.M.C.A., Student Wives Club, Orediggers, Continental Oil Company, "Who's Who", United States Army

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 4

In this issue...Mineral club, Boy Scouts, Sigma Rho, Dr. S. W. Nile, Spelunking, Butte Floral, The Anaconda Company, Anderson Carlisle Society, The Lone Ranger

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 5

In this issue...Civil Service Commission, M-Club, Blue Shield Plan, John Sikkar, International Club, Butte Civic Center, Mines Hockey, Dave Malyevac, Bowling

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 6

In this issue...Christmas Formal, Douglas H. Harnish, Geology Seminar, World Oil magazine, Ed Simonich, Butte Civic Center, Butte Copperleafs, Bill of Rights

The Amplifier - v. 5, no. 7

In this issue...Circle K Club, Leonard Boyd, March of Dimes, Gem Auction, Young Adult Christian Association, Outing club, Y.M.C.A., Bob Wylie, Carroll College

Method for Aqueous Gold Thiosulfate Extraction Using Copper-Cyanide Pretreated Carbon Asdortion

A gold thiosulfate leaching process uses carbon to remove gold from the leach liquor. The activated carbon is pretreated with copper cyanide. A copper (on the carbon) to gold (in solution) ration of at least 1.5 optimizes gold recovery from solution. To recover the gold from the carbon, conventional elution technology works but is dependent on the copper to gold ratio on the carbon.