Although objective safety is a widely studied topic in ergonomics, subjective safety has received far less
research attention. Nevertheless, most of human decision-making and behavior depends on how we
perceive our environment. This study investigates the effects of various environmental design characteristics
on people's safety perception in a passenger ship context. Five different environmental design
characteristics were manipulated to increase the openness of the space or to create more clear navigation,
resulting in 20 different cabin corridors for a passenger ship. Ninety-seven respondents were
asked to rate these corridors on the perceived safety in an experiment. The results showed that people
feel more safe when the corridors have a curved ceiling, when the walls do not have a split-level design,
and when there is a view to the outside. Designers can use these insights when designing future
environments