Warnings in manufacturing: Improving hazard‐mitigation messaging through audience analysis

Abstract

AbstractHazard mitigation, including warning development, validation, and dissemination, is an important aspect of product safety and workplace and consumer protection. Understanding our audiences—workers and consumers—is an especially important, often overlooked, aspect of risk and harm reduction efforts. In this article, particular attention is paid to audience analysis in hazard communication and warning messaging, with a focus on the potential role of latent class analysis (LCA). We provide an example of using LCA to analyze a hazardous behavior: prescription medicine sharing and borrowing. Four distinct groups of people—ranging from abstainers to at‐risk sharers—are identified and discussed. Building better warnings and risk communication techniques is essential to promoting occupational and consumer safety. Audience analysis is a vital component of these efforts. LCA appears to be a worthwhile addition to our analytical toolbox by allowing risk reduction and hazard‐mitigation efforts to tailor interventions to a diverse target audience. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.