Evaluation of Behavioral Compliance with Safety Warnings at Different Levels of Cognitive Load in Warehouses

Abstract

This study aims to evaluate the behavioral compliance with dynamic safety warnings, in different levels of cognitive load in warehouses. Participated in the study forty subjects between the ages of 17 and 47. Participants performed two simultaneous tasks, while compliance with safety warnings was evaluated. Cognitive load had three levels (neutral, low cognitive load, high cognitive load) modulated through difficulty of double task. Behavioral compliance was 77.1% in the condition where there was no double task (neutral condition), in the condition of low cognitive load, 90.7% were consonants, and in the condition of high cognitive load the percentage dropped to 45.7%. Results suggest that the presentation of safety information is sensitive to cognitive load. In a work environment, where the demand for cognitive resources is high, there is a need to design stronger warnings that can increase compliance.