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Writing and Designing
Manuals and Warnings
Writing and Designing
Manuals and Warnings
Fifth Edition
Patricia A. Robinson
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300
Boca Raton, FL 33487–2742
© 2020 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business
No claim to original U.S. Government works
Printed on acid-free paper
International Standard Book Number-13 978-0-367-11109-0 (Hardback)
This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable
efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher
cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The
authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in
this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not
been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged, please write and let us know
so we may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced,
transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, please access www.
copyright.com (www.copyright.com/) or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222
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photocopy license by the CCC, a separate system of payment has been arranged.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
vii
viiiContents
Binding����������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 125
Cover�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 126
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 126
Checklist: Make It Easy for Your Readers��������������������������������������� 127
Notes������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 127
Durability������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 247
Size and Placement���������������������������������������������������������������� 249
Testing Your Warnings��������������������������������������������������������������������� 251
Why Test Warnings?�������������������������������������������������������������� 251
Designing an Effective Test��������������������������������������������������� 251
Validity������������������������������������������������������������������������ 251
Reliability�������������������������������������������������������������������� 252
Elements of a Test������������������������������������������������������������������ 252
Choosing Your Subjects���������������������������������������������� 252
Designing the Test������������������������������������������������������� 254
Administering the Test������������������������������������������������ 254
Scoring the Test—How Good Is Good Enough?��������� 255
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 256
Checklist: Make Your Warnings Work�������������������������������������������� 257
Notes������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 258
Chapter 11 Integrated Product Safety: The Manual Is Just the Beginning�������� 289
Overview������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 289
Designing Safety into the Product��������������������������������������������������� 289
Why You Need a Product Safety Team—And Who
Should Be on It������������������������������������������������������������������ 290
Multiple Perspectives��������������������������������������������������� 290
Cross-Functional Buy-In��������������������������������������������� 291
Enforcement Authority������������������������������������������������ 291
Concurrent Development: Better and Safer Products������������ 291
Delivering a Consistent Safety Message������������������������������������������ 293
Why the Model Wore Safety Glasses������������������������������������ 293
The Patent Medicine Show: When the Sales Rep
Promises the Moon����������������������������������������������������������� 295
Installation: The Customer Connection��������������������������������� 295
Service—And Safety—With a Smile������������������������������������ 296
Integrated Product Safety in the Real World: Case Study��������������� 296
Initial Information Gathering and Hazard Analysis�������������� 297
Drafting of Instructions and Warnings���������������������������������� 298
Refining the Drafts and Ensuring Consistency��������������������� 299
Summary������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������302
Checklist: Integrating Product Safety���������������������������������������������� 303
Notes������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 303
Resources�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 305
Index����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������307
Preface to the Fifth Edition
The world is different from how it looked even a decade ago, and the pace of change
just keeps accelerating. When the last edition of this book was written, the iPhone
had just been invented. Now smartphones are everywhere and doing things unimagi-
nable just a few years back. You can use your phone to track your escape-artist dog,
turn the heat up in your house as you commute home from the office, accept a digital
payment, and board a plane. And that’s just for starters. Technology is changing the
way we do business, the way we communicate with each other, and the way we learn.
More companies than ever are doing business internationally, but even domes-
tically, the U.S. population is increasingly diverse. About 20% of the population
speaks a language other than English at home, and that percentage is expected to
remain steady for at least the next decade. Providing product users with instructions
and safety information becomes even more of a challenge when customers span an
ever-widening wide spectrum of languages and cultural variation.
Since the last edition, products liability exposure has become even more of a
concern for manufacturers, and allegations of failure to warn have become a lead-
ing basis for lawsuits in the U.S. At the same time, while litigation is less prevalent
internationally than here at home, new international standards and country-specific
legislation have recognized the critical role played by instructions and warnings.
This book, like its predecessors, is intended to help those in the trenches—the
technical writers, graphic artists, engineers, and others who are charged with pro-
ducing product documentation. While the content is informed by current research,
it also reflects the real-world knowledge of hundreds of practitioners. Research can
guide us, but there is no substitute for experience when it comes to applying that
guidance when the realities of budgets and market-driven timelines make trade-offs
inevitable. Whether you are brand-new on the job or have labored for years, this
book will have something to help you.
Some things don’t change, but many do. This edition, while preserving the basic
guidelines for developing manuals and warnings presented in the previous edition,
offers new material as well, including an expanded section on hazard analysis. As
litigation involving warnings and instructions increases and products connect in
the Internet of Things, it becomes even more important to have a systematic way
to evaluate and respond to product hazards. And while virtually all products need
instructions and safety information, this information may not always be presented
in a paper manual. This edition explores into how emerging technology is changing
the world of documentation, from videos to virtual reality and all points in between.
As always, I hope you find it a helpful resource to navigate the challenges of prod-
uct documentation in the 21st century.
Patricia A. Robinson
xvii
Acknowledgments
Many individuals have contributed to this and previous editions of this book by shar-
ing their expertise and their materials—too many to list here. I thank you and so do
the readers of this book who will use your contributions to write better manuals and
develop more effective warnings. One of the book’s central motifs is to focus on keep-
ing the user safe. Because of the collective wisdom you have freely shared, be assured
that you have helped to do just that: you have prevented injuries and saved lives.
The materials for the book were collected in a number of ways. Some came from in-
house technical writing seminars for industry, visits to service publications operations,
teaching in national and regional conferences and workshops devoted to product safety
and technical writing, and serving as a private consultant. Individuals and organizations
who have worked with us and/or whose materials provided the subjects and examples
include Acme Burgess, Inc.; American Honda Motor Company; American Optical
Company; American Suzuki Motor Corporation; Atwood Mobile Products; Butler
Manufacturing Company; Briggs and Stratton Power Products Group, LLC; Chrysler
Motors Corporation; Clarion Safety Systems, Inc.; Clark Components International;
Construction Industry Manufacturers’ Association; CooperVision Surgical Systems;
Country Home Products, Inc.; CPM Acquisitions Corporation; Datamax Corporation;
Deere and Company; Delta International Machinery Corporation; Devilbiss Company;
Doboy Packaging Machinery; Dri-Eaz Products, Inc.; E.1. DuPont De Nemours and
Company; Electrolux Home Products; Epson America, Inc.; Farm Implement and
Equipment Institute; Fellowes Manufacturing Company; Fisher and Paykel Appliance,
Inc.; FMC Corporation; Ford Motor Company, Ford Tractor Division; Ford New
Holland; Fulton Manufacturing Corporation; Gardner Denver; Gehl Company; General
Electric Company and General Electric Medical Systems; General Motors Company;
Gerber Products Company; Harley Davidson Motor Company; Hazelton-Rattech
Inc.; Hewlett-Packard; Honeywell Inc.; Huffy Corporation; Ingersoll-Rand Company;
International Business Machines; International Harvester Company; International
Organization for Standardization; J. 1. Case Company; John Muir Publications;
Joy Manufacturing Company; Kartridg Pak Company; Kohler Corporation;
Krones Inc.; Mack Trucks-Mack International; Madison-Kipp Corporation; Mantis
Corporation; Martin Engineering; National Electrical Manufacturers Association;
Norden Laboratories; Ohio Medical Products; Outboard Marine Corporation; Pierce
Manufacturing Company; Pittsburgh Poison Center; Prairie Agricultural Machinery
Institute; Prairie Implement Manufacturers’ Association (and affiliated companies of
Canada); Rheem Manufacturing Company; Rosemount Inc.; Ryobi Outdoor Products,
Inc.; Scotsman; Siemens Medical System; Silver Reed America, Inc.; Simplicity
Manufacturing, Inc.; Sologear, LLC; Teresa Sprecher; Rosemary Stachel; Sunstrand
Aviation; TRW Ross Gear Division; Taylor Instrument Company; Technicare; Thern
Inc.; Versatile Corporation; Volkswagen of America; Wabco Construction and Mining
Equipment; Weber-Stephen Products Company; Westinghouse Electric Corporation;
World Kitchen, LLC.; and Yamaha Motor Company.
Finally, I owe a special thank you to my family and friends for putting up with me
through yet another edition of this book.
xix
Author
Patricia A. Robinson has been involved in technical writing for forty years. After
earning her PhD (in a different field) she joined the faculty of the University of
Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering where she taught technical writing for
thirteen years. During her tenure at the University, the technical communication
program grew from a single report-writing course into a full certificate program.
She served as the first Director of that program. Dr. Robinson also served as pro-
gram director and primary instructor for continuing education seminars for practic-
ing technical writers and engineers, covering everything from Effective Speaking
to Managing the Technical Publications Department. An early invitation to teach
an in-plant course on operator manuals for a farm implement manufacturer led to
an unexpected—but greatly satisfying—career focus on instructions and warnings.
Dr. Robinson is the author of Fundamentals of Technical Writing and co-author
of Effective Writing Strategies for Engineers and Scientists. She has also published
articles in various professional journals and presented papers at professional confer-
ences. She is a regular speaker at product liability seminars on the role of instructions
and warnings. Dr. Robinson is a Full Member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics
Society, a member of IEEE, and a member of the ANSI Z535.6 subcommittee.
As owner of Coronado Consulting Services, LLC, Dr. Robinson consults widely
for industry both in the United States and internationally, and occasionally provides
expert testimony related to instructions and warnings. Dr. Robinson presently makes
her home in a small southern Arizona community, where horses and cattle consider-
ably outnumber humans. She can be reached at pat@coronadoconsulting.com.
xxi
Part I
Product Safety in
the 21st Century
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
With something vital in her, like those flowers
That on our desolate steppes outlast the year.
Resembles you in some things. It was that
First made us friends. I do her justice, see!
For we were friends in that smooth surface way
We Russians have imported out of France.
Alas! from what a blue and tranquil heaven
This bolt fell on me! After these two years,
My suit with Ossip Leminoff at end,
The old wrong righted, the estates restored,
And my promotion, with the ink not dry!
For those fairies which neglected me at birth
Seemed now to lavish all good gifts on me—
Gold roubles, office, sudden dearest friends.
The whole world smiled; then, as I stooped to taste
The sweetest cup, freak dashed it from my lips.
This very night—just think, this very night—
I planned to come and beg of you the alms
I dared not ask for in my poverty.
I thought me poor then. How stript am I now!
There’s not a ragged mendicant one meets
Along the Nevski Prospekt but has leave to tell his love,
And I have not that right!
Pauline Pavlovna, why do you stand there
Stark as a statue, with no word to say?
She (very slowly). Well, then—I love you. I may tell you so
This once, ... and then forever hold my peace.
We cannot stay here longer unobserved.
No—do not touch me! but stand further off, and
Seem to laugh, as if we jested—eyes,
Eyes, everywhere! Now turn your face away....
I love you.
He. Pauline, I have three things to choose from; you shall choose.
This marriage, or Siberia, or France.
The first means hell; the second, purgatory;
The third—with you—were nothing less than heaven!
He. Not a ray of hope! His mind is set on this with that insistence
Which seems to seize on all match-making folk—
The fancy bites them, and they straight go mad.
GUNGA DIN
By Rudyard Kipling
’E carried me away
To where a dooli lay,
An’ a bullet came and drilled the beggar clean.
’E put me safe inside,
An’ just before ’e died:
“I ’ope you like your drink,” sez Gunga Din.
So I’ll meet ’im later on
At the place where ’e is gone—
Where it’s always double drill and no canteen;
’E’ll be squattin’ on the coals,
Givin’ drink to poor damned souls,
An’ I’ll get a swig in hell from Gunga Din!
Yes, Din! Din! Din!
You Lazarushian-leathern Gunga Din!
Though I’ve belted you and flayed you,
By the livin’ God that made you,
You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!
As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought the Gloucester stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
Lord! Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What ugly sights of death within mine eyes!
The blacksmith raised his hammer, and rushed into the street,
His ’prentice boys behind him, the ruthless foe to meet;—
High on the breach of Limerick with dauntless hearts they stood,
Where bomb-shells burst, and shot fell thick, and redly ran the blood.
“Now look you, brown-haired Moran; and mark you, swarthy Ned,
This day we’ll prove the thickness of many a Dutchman’s head!
Hurrah! upon their bloody path, they’re mounting gallantly;
And now the first that tops the breach, leave him to this and me.”
He rushed upon the flying ranks; his hammer ne’er was slack,
For in thro’ blood and bone it crashed, thro’ helmet and thro’ jack;
He’s ta’en a Holland captain beside the red pontoon,
And “Wait you here,” he boldly cries; “I’ll send you back full soon!
The blacksmith sought his smithy and blew his bellows strong;
He shod the steed of Sarsfield, but o’er it sang no song;
“Ochone! my boys are dead!” he cried; “their loss I’ll long deplore,
But comfort’s in my heart, their graves are red with foreign gore.”
Up, comrades, up, the bugle peals the note of war’s alarms,
And the cry is ringing sternly round, that calls the land to arms;
Adieu, adieu, fair land of France, where the vine of Brennus reigns;
We go where the blooming laurels grow, on the bright Italian plains.
Advance! advance! brave sons of France, before the startled world;
For France, once more, her tricolor in triumph hath unfurled.
Our eagles shall fly ’neath many a sky, with a halo round their way
Where History flings, on their flashing wings, the light of Glory’s ray;
And we shall bear them proudly on, through many a mighty fray,
That shall win old nations back to life, in the glorious coming day.
Then advance, advance, ye sons of France, before the startled
world,
For France, once more, her tricolor in triumph hath unfurled.
See the Briton, pale, as he dons his mail, for the coming conflict
shock,
And before his eyes, see the phantom rise, of the Chief on Helena’s
rock;
In foreboding fears, already he hears through palace and mart anew,
Our avenging shout, o’er the battle rout—remember Waterloo!
Then advance, advance, ye sons of France, before the startled
world,
For France, once more, her tricolor in triumph hath unfurled.
And, hark, a wail from our kindred Gael, comes floating from the
West—
That gallant race, whose chosen place was ever our battle’s crest;
Now is the day we can repay the generous debt we owe
To Irish blood, that freely flowed to conquer France’s foe.
Then advance, advance, ye sons of France, before the startled
world,
For France, once more, her tricolor in triumph hath unfurled.
Old Tricolor, as in days of yore, you shall wave o’er vanquished
kings,
And your folds shall fly ’neath an English sky, on Victory’s crimson
wings;
And Europe’s shout shall in joy ring out, hailing freedom in thy track,
When our task is done, and we bear thee on, to France with glory
back.
Then advance, advance, ye sons of France, before the startled
world,
For France, once more, her tricolor in triumph hath unfurled.
I know no fears, but the mist of years that has gathered round my
track
For a moment clears, and my youth’s compeers again to my side
come back;
And the tall ships reel o’er their iron keel, as we sweep down on the
foe,
Like a giant’s form amid the storm, where the mighty tempests blow.
My realm and grave the northern wave, where the tempest’s voice
will sing
My death-song loud, where flame shall shroud the ocean’s warrior-
king,
Whilst heroes wait at Valhalla’s gate to proudly welcome me.
For my race is run, my errand done. Receive thy Chief, O Sea!