Skip to main content

Evaluation on the Comprehensibility of China’s Safety Prohibition Signs Based on Ergonomic Principles

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Human Interaction, Emerging Technologies and Future Systems V (IHIET 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 319))

Abstract

This study is aimed to evaluate the comprehensibility of 40 safety prohibition signs in accordance with China’s current national standards and their relevance to three ergonomic principles (familiarity, physical representation, and conceptual compatibility) of sign design, thereby discovering signs of poor comprehensibility. Twenty elderly people aged 60 and above were included in this study for the sign comprehensibility test and ergonomics principles evaluation test. The results revealed that there were 13 signs with a correct comprehensibility rate of 0, and no signs had a comprehensibility rate of greater than 67% specified in ISO 3864–3 (2006). A lot of signs with poor comprehensibility need to be redesigned, which should abide by ergonomics principles, thereby improving people’s comprehension. This study can provide a sound theoretical basis for researchers and designers when improving these signs to design comprehensible signs for safety enhancement.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  1. Redström, J.: Towards user design? on the shift from object to user as the subject of design. J. Des. Stud. 27(2), 123–139 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Bañares, J.R., Caballes, S.A., Serdan, M.J., Liggayu, A.T., Bongo, M.F.: A comprehension-based ergonomic redesign of philippine road warning signs. J. Int. J. Ind. Ergonomics 65, 17–25 (2018)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. McCormick, E.J., Sanders, M.S.: Human Factors in Engineering and Design. McGraw-Hill Companies, New York City (1982)

    Google Scholar 

  4. Liu, Y.C., Ho, C.H.: The effects of age on symbol comprehension in central rail hubs in Taiwan. Appl. Ergon. 43(6), 1016–1025 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. GB2894- 2008.《安全标志及其使用导则》. 中华人民共和国标准 (2008). (in Chinese)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Ben-Bassat, T., Shinar, D.: Ergonomic guidelines for traffic sign design increase sign comprehension. J. Hum. Factors 48(1), 182–195 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  7. ISO 3864, 1984. International Standard for Safety Colors and Safety Signs. International Standards Organization (ISO), Geneva (1984)

    Google Scholar 

  8. ISO 9186–1, 2014. Graphical Symbols-Test Methods- Part1: Methods for Testing Comprehensibility, second ed. International Standards Organization (ISO), Geneva (2014)

    Google Scholar 

  9. ISO 9186, 2001. Graphical Symbols—test Methods for Judged Comprehensibility and for Comprehension. International Organization for Standardization, Geneva (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  10. ISO 3864–3, 2006. International Standard for Safety Colors and Safety Signs-part 3: Design Principles for Graphical Symbols for Use in Safety Signs. International Standards Organization (ISO), Geneva (2006)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

Thanks to the teachers and students who helped complete this study and the subjects who participated in the experiment.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Li, R., Wan, Y. (2022). Evaluation on the Comprehensibility of China’s Safety Prohibition Signs Based on Ergonomic Principles. In: Ahram, T., Taiar, R. (eds) Human Interaction, Emerging Technologies and Future Systems V. IHIET 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 319. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85540-6_160

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85540-6_160

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-85539-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-85540-6

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics