Specifically, this study investigated the understanding of industrial safety signs and
messages by registered and non-registered safety officers (NRSOs) in Hong Kong with ten
different user factors, and examined the relationship between cognitive sign features and
sign comprehensibility. A comprehensive review of the purposes and use of safety signs,
job duties of registered and non-registered safety offices, user factors, and definitions of
cognitive sign features was conducted for formulating the research questions of the study.
For investigation of the understanding of industrial safety signs by safety officers,
a questionnaire survey was conducted with careful selection of safety signs for
comprehension testing. Participants were asked about their demographics and experience
of reviewing safety sign information, and for rating the cognitive sign features and testing
safety sign comprehension. The comprehension scores of safety signs and comprehension
performance of participants were carefully analysed, and the interrelationships between
cognitive features and comprehension scores for the signs were examined. The
association between personal experience on safety and health issues and comprehension
performance for the participants was also studied. The findings of this study will provide
useful information for the design and selection of safety signs and give suggestions of
the necessity of sign training and test process for obtaining registration status, which
are important for promoting the intended messages of industrial safety signs so as to
improve workplace safety and organizational safety culture.