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William J. Vigilante

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Publications by William J. Vigilante (bibliography)

2012

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Vigilante, William J. and Reeves, Patrick (2012): Human Factors Related to Programmable Thermostats: Consumers Knowledge and Perceptions Related to Product Use and Hazards. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2012 Annual Meeting 2012. pp. 680-684.

“This study sought to identify consumers' knowledge and practice with respect to residential thermostats and the hazard associated with their use and potential misuse. The study was a result of a forensic assignment involving a defective thermostat that allowed a furnace to continue running unchecked after its batteries died causing an extreme temperature elevation within the home resulting in damage to the interior of the home. Home owners in the development of the incident property were surveyed via telephone with regards to their use, understanding, and appreciation of the risks associated with their thermostats. The majority of the respondents had the same brand and model thermostat as the incident home. The results indicate that a majority of the respondents did not understand how their thermostats worked and were not aware that their thermostats were battery powered or that there was a need to change the batteries on a regular basis. Respondents did not appreciate the risk of property damage that could occur if the batteries in the thermostat ran low or died. Most of the respondents indicated giving little or no thought to their thermostats. The consequences of user's reliance on everyday household products to work as they are supposed to are discussed with respect to product safety and design.”

2010

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Lim, Raymond W. and Vigilante, William J. (2010): Consumers Interpretation of the Statement: Do not leave [insert product here] unattended. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 54th Annual Meeting 2010. pp. 1841-1845.

“Consumer's interpretation and understanding of the commonly encountered instruction/warning "do not leave unattended" with respect to three different types of consumer products were examined. Two hundred and eleven respondents were surveyed in the Los Angeles, CA area. The majority of the participants interpreted the phrase differently than how the warning designer intended. The results were also affected by the type of consumer product, for example: battery charger v. cooking appliance v. open flame. The results offer interesting insight into the varying understandings that consumers possess of statements similar to "do not leave [product] unattended" with respect to different types of consumer products. The consequences of the misunderstandings are significant if the warning designer's is relying upon the instruction to ensure the safety of the products and the end user. The results also highlight the necessity of using explicit and specific information when providing consumer instructions and warnings to ensure that the intent of the warning is adequately communicated and the importance of testing warning text to ensure product users understand the intended meaning of the warning.”

1995

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Wogalter, Michael S., Magurno, Amy B., Carter, Ann W., Swindell, Julie A., Vigilante, William J. and Daurity, Jason G. (1995): Hazard Associations of Warning Header Components. In: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 39th Annual Meeting 1995. pp. 979-983.

“There has been relatively little warnings research directed at systematically examining the component features comprising existing warning signs as specified in standards (ANSI Z535) and guidelines (e.g., FMC, 1985; Westinghouse, 1981). This research examines several elemental features found in real-world warning signs to determine their individual as well as their combined effects on people's hazard perceptions. Various colors, signal words, shapes and configurations -- both individually and in combination-comprising existing warning headers as well as newly developed constituents were evaluated in a series of rating and ranking tasks. The results confirmed several existing published recommendations (e.g., the color red is perceived to connote more hazard than other solid colors), but also showed instances where people's perceptions differed from those assumed in design standards and guidelines. Some newly-developed header configurations (e.g., having a skull icon to the right of the signal world) show promise as alternatives for signaling hazardous conditions.”

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