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Re: Warnings at front of document

Subject: Re: Warnings at front of document
From: Al Geist <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Date: Tue, 28 Feb 2006 17:10:05 -0500

Claire Conant wrote:

We have several pages of warnings in the front of our hardware manuals.
These are required by law. Are you referring to those safety and physical hazard type warnings? Or
are you just referring to a list of notes and cautions as part of your
procedures, such as "Caution: make sure not to install the xx device
into a switched power source."
That's different than the physical safety and electrocution warnings at
the front of a manual.
Someone already suggested to check with your company attorney, and I
second that.
This thread came at an opportune time as I'm currently reviewing a manual as part of a proposal for a Technical Writing contract for a local manufacturing company. The review document has 23 pages of Safety Information, with most of them actually testing procedures (such as testing the interlocks) versus warnings. While there are legal reasons for some of the boilerplate in the front of this manual....23 pages seems a bit excessive. Basically, it's like saying "Buy our product but don't open the box. Instead, store it in a warehouse far away from any life form forever. Don't bother reading any further. If you have a problem, call our Customer Service hotline. Have a nice day."


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Al Geist
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E-mail: al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com <mailto:al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>
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See also:
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References:
RE: Warnings at front of document: From: Claire Conant

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