• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.53-60
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• 2010

Texts and icons are used to deliver the safety and health information on pesticide labels. This study surveyed the standards or guidelines regarding the presentation formats of texts and icons used in pesticides. Also, the text and icon formats being used in the 50 pesticide products in Korea were investigated in the aspects of size, font (texts only), color. From the guideline survey, it was found that while the guidelines for the text fonts and colors in pesticides were suggested, there was no detailed guidelines about the text size. For the icon presentation, it was regulated that the icon size for the pesticides should be larger than $7mm{\times}7mm$, and this size was equivalent to the size when the reading distance of 28 ㎝ was applied to other two guidelines. From the sample survey of the 50 pesticides, it was found that the small text size being used in the 50 pesticides was 1mm (3pt), and this size was considered to be very difficult to be read, particularly by old people. The minimum size of the texts for the toxicity of the pesticide, the very important safety information, was found to be 1.5 mm, which is considered to be very uncomfortable to be read. The size of icons were varied from 2 to 12 mm, and the total average size was 4.6 mm. The 149 icons from a total 187 icons (80%) were smaller than the icon presentation guideline ($7mm{\times}7mm$), and the reason for the small icon size might be the small area of the label of the pesticides. Thus, more detailed guidelines for the text size and more practical guidelines for the size of icons are required.

• Journal of the Korea Safety Management & Science
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.27-33
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• 2010

This study surveyed the reading discomforts and the reasons for discomfortable reading of the safety and health information (texts and icons) presented on the agricultural vehicles/machines, pesticides, fertilizers, and feeds. Eighty seven people residing in rural area participated in the survey interview. Questionnaire survey showed that the most discomfortable product in reading the texts was pesticides. Forty three (49%) among participants had very-discomfortable or discomfortable in reading the texts used in the label of pesticides, and the main reason for the discomfort was small text size. The reading discomforts in reading the texts (varied from 4 point to 19 point and presented in 50 cm reading distance) showed different pattern according to the age groups. Three age groups (50s, 60s and older than 70s) showed a similar discomfort pattern, but different from the group of 30s and 40s. Forty four people (51%) had a problem in understanding the meaning of the icons and the main reasons were the small size and the difficulty in inferring the meaning of the icons. Thus, the more detailed and practical guidelines for the presentation format, particularly about the text heights and the size of icons, are required. Also, more comprehensive research is needed to investigate the readability and legibility of texts and icons.