A Warning Label for Scaffold Users

The purpose of this research project was to develop a warning label which would: a) alert scaffold workers to the potential of danger when working on scaffolds, and b) to increase the likelihood they would seek out and read the safety guidelines supplied with the scaffolds. A warning was developed and tested on 150 potential users. It significantly increased subjects' behavioral intentions to seek safety information before working on a scaffold they had not been on before. This was true for inexperienced and experienced scaffold workers. This effect was not found for scaffolds the subjects supposedly had been on before. Highly experienced workers were less likely to comply with the warning than less experienced workers. It was concluded that the warning would increase the use of safety guidelines by those working on a scaffold that was new to them. But a new warning on a scaffold a worker had already been on would have no effect on the reading of safety guidelines.