Third of a three-part Good Practice Note for application of Human Factors in the design/writing of operations procedures

1. Good Practice Note:
Applying Human Factors to Procedure Writing, Part
C: Cautions, Warnings, and Notes
Cautions and Warnings
Cautions and warnings are used to attract attention to information that is
essential to safe performance, i.e., conditions, design limitations, practices,
procedures, etc. that must be complied with in order to avoid loss of life, injury,
health hazards, or equipment damage.
A warning alerts the user to potential hazard to personnel.
A caution alerts the user to potential hazard to equipment, product, or materials.
Failure to provide proper cautions and warnings is a significant contributor to
human error.
The following are some recommended practices to follow when writing cautions
and warnings:
1. Use a consistent, unique format to make the caution or warning stand out
from the action steps. We recommend the following:
•
Fully capitalize, bold and underline the word CAUTION or WARNING
•
Center the word CAUTION or WARNING on a separate line above its
statement.
•
Place the statement below the word CAUTION or WARNING indented from
both margins of the box.
•
Box the caution using double lines. The sides of the box should align with the
step margins.
•
Box the warning using heavier double lines. The sides of the box should align
with the step margins. (NOTE: some writers prefer to use the same double line
box for cautions and notes, and then a different, slightly less prominent form of
highlighting for notes. The most important thing is to clearly distinguish notes
from cautions and warnings, and all three of them from action statements.)

2. EXAMPLES:
CAUTION
IF the following steps are not performed properly,
pump damage may occur.
WARNING
IF the following steps are not performed properly,
hazardous vapors will be released.
2. ALWAYS place the caution or warning BEFORE the step(s) to which it
applies.
3. NEVER embed action steps in a caution or warning statement box.
4. Use short, concise statements, but in normal statement format, not as a
command. Use simple language. Include normal punctuation and
articles.
5. The content of the caution or warning statement should include: (a) a
description of the hazardous condition; (b) the consequences of failing to
heed the caution or warning; and, (c) critical time considerations.
6. Include only one topic in each caution or warning.
7. If more than one caution or more than one warning are necessary, number
them.
8. Always make sure the entire caution or warning complete on one page,
and that it is on the same page as the associated action step(s).
9. If there is a caution or warning that applies to the entire procedure, place
the caution or warning in the “precautions and limitations” section near the
beginning of the procedure.

3. 10. Use cautions and warnings every time they are necessary, but don’t
trivialize them or make the procedure difficult to follow by overusing them.
NOTES
A note is used to provide the user with helpful information that would simply
clutter the action steps. Typically, notes contain preparatory or supplemental
information, and they are not used to caution or warn.
While a note may contain information to aid the user in making decisions, or
enhancing performance, a procedure is not a training manual, and notes should
not be overused.
Use a consistent highlighting technique different from the format used for
cautions and warnings. We prefer a single line box, with the word NOTE bolded
and underlined, though others prefer different highlighting techniques.
EXAMPLE
NOTE:
Switch SW-002 is located behind the main panel.
Except for these differences in formatting, and Item #5 (which is specific to
cautions and warnings) all of the recommendations made above are applicable to
notes as well as to cautions and warnings.