Mitigating Product Hazards via User Warnings Alone: When/Why “Warnings‐Only” Approaches Are Likely to Fail

Some products may involve hazards in their use. Manufacturers are obligated to evaluate such hazards and to abate them according to a hierarchy of hazard control approaches, namely, 1) to design them out, 2) to shield users from their effects, or 3) to adequately warn users of their danger(s). Warnings are last in this hierarchy because they provide a lesser guarantee of success. Additionally, warnings developed for this purpose may be inadequate because of a variety of factors, including the warning's clarity/understandability, its high cost of compliance, the need for responses beyond the users' capabilities, the need for unavailable or difficult‐to‐use protective equipment, or asking users to perform actions contrary to previously learned or innately reactive behaviors. This article describes problems with three types of vehicles that contained known hazards—where the manufacturer relied solely on product warnings to mitigate that hazard, and, in turn, provided warnings that were inadequate for one or more of these reasons. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.