ABSTRACT
Since it is not always possible to design-out hazards from some packages, injuries are, unfortunately, a common outcome while handling packages with hazardous contents (e.g., chemicals) at home. This can be due to inadequate assumptions about the packages’ content hazard level. Thus, to increase safety, it is fundamental that users perceive quickly and accurately the nature of the hazard and the hazard level associated with the product that they are handling. Generally, warning labels are used for such goal, since they provide a method to convey the required risk information, however, people do not always read labels, which creates a potential health and safety problem. One possible approach to overcome this problem can be the use of perceived affordances to convey adequate action possibilities to the users and, at the same time, convey the adequate hazard nature 628and level, which can promote cautionary behaviors. In this context, based on a literature review, this paper’s main objective is to challenge experts engaged in package design to explore variables such as affordances, as well as hazard perception, in order to design safer and more effective packages for consumer products.
