Risk Analysis and Human Behavior

6

AN INTEGRATIVE APPROACH FOR LABEL EVALUATION AND DESIGN

Donna M. Riley, Baruch Fischhoff, and Mitchell Small

Assessing label effectiveness requires knowing how consumers currently use a product, what strategies for risk mitigation are most effective, and how label reading, comprehension, and compliance relate to mitigatory behavior. We offer an integrative approach for determining the information content of warnings. It begins with a product risk assessment. Structured, open–ended interviews with consumers then identify gaps in knowledge, whose criticality is determined by the risk assessment. The approach is applied to reducing risk from methylene chloride paint strippers. Consumer interviews indicate prevalent mitigation behaviors, while ...