Hazards associated with three signal words and four colours on warning signs
Chapanis had people rate the hazard level of three signal words (CAUTION, WARNING, DANGER) combined with four background colours (white, yellow, orange, red). DANGER was seen as the highest hazard, WARNING intermediate and CAUTION lowest, with most consistency for DANGER. White, yellow, orange and red were seen as successively greater hazard, with greatest consistency for DANGER on red. There was little agreement about the best colours for CAUTION and WARNING, and CAUTION and WARNING were seen as closer to each other than to DANGER on seriousness and probability of injury. Ergonomics 37(2), 265-275, 1994.
Chapanis had people rate the hazard level of three signal words (CAUTION, WARNING, DANGER) combined with four background colours (white, yellow, orange, red). DANGER was seen as the highest hazard, WARNING intermediate and CAUTION lowest, with most consistency for DANGER. White, yellow, orange and red were seen as successively greater hazard, with greatest consistency for DANGER on red. There was little agreement about the best colours for CAUTION and WARNING, and CAUTION and WARNING were seen as closer to each other than to DANGER on seriousness and probability of injury. Ergonomics 37(2), 265-275, 1994.
Written from the abstract, OpenAlex record, 2026-11-03.
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doi:10.1080/00140139408963644. Read at the level of the abstract.