Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Disclaimers

by David Tinsley

This article discusses guidelines for the use and placement of Warnings, Cautions, Notes, and Disclaimers in technical documentation. This article expresses a personal opinion and I do not want to suggest it is the only (or best) way of approaching the subject. It is, however, a standard approach that I have found easy to implement and unambiguous to the reader. I hope this article will be useful to new technical writers and the perhaps not so new among us!

Three Distinct Functions

Warnings, Cautions, Notes and Disclaimers perform three distinct functions:

1. Warnings and Cautions alert the reader to situations that may cause personal injury or equipment damage.
2. Notes provide additional information to the reader that is outside the 'flow' of the associated text.
3. Disclaimers protect the company by stating limits about what the product can or cannot do.

It is good practice to place all the Warnings and Cautions in the front of the document as well as in the appropriate place in the main body of the text.  Notes are placed at the appropriate place in the text, while Disclaimers are normally placed only in the front matter. 

Warnings

Warnings alert the reader to situations where a hazard to personnel may arise. They are placed before the event to which they relate and are repeated at each applicable occasion. Stating “See Warning on page xx” is not acceptable. They are formatted in bold and in a larger font than the associated text. A warning symbol is placed in the adjacent margin.

A Warning comprises three distinct sections:

1. The action required to avoid the hazard. “Do not touch the exposed electrical terminals”.
2. Details of the hazard. “The electrical terminals are at mains voltage”.
3. The consequences of ignoring the Warning. “Touching the electrical terminals may result in death or serious injury”.

An example of a complete Warning is as follows:

Make sure the pressure relief valve is open before disconnecting the input union. The bottle is pressurised to 150 bar. Disconnecting the input union without opening the pressure relief valve will cause an explosion and may cause death or serious injury.

Cautions

Cautions are similar to Warnings but they are used when equipment damage may result if a process is not followed. They are formatted and placed in the same way as Warnings, but with a Caution symbol in the margin. Like Warnings, Cautions comprise three distinct sections:

1. The action required to avoid the damage. “Do not touch the component pins”.
2. Reason for the Caution. “The component is an electro-static sensitive device”.
3. The consequences of ignoring the Caution. “Touching the component pins will cause irreparable damage to the component."

An example of a complete Caution is as follows:

Do not touch the glass envelope when handling the bulb. The skin contains oils that will adhere to the glass envelope. Touching the glass envelope will cause premature failure of the bulb.

Notes

Notes comprise additional information that aid the reader in the use or understanding of the equipment or subject. Specifically, they are not used when a Warning or Caution is applicable. They are not safety related and may be placed either before or after the associated text as required. Notes are formatted differently than normal text so they stand out, but are not given the prominence that Warnings and Cautions are given.

An example of a Note is as follows:

If the asset is track-only or electro-optical, this selector panel will show an ON/OFF selection.

Disclaimers

Disclaimers are placed in front matter and, if possible, the wording is approved with the company legal department. Disclaimers provide a means of specifying limitations or other requirements on equipment. 

An example of a Disclaimer is as follows:

The Widget system is designed to be used with tools specifically designed by the XYZ company for the Widget system. The accuracy of the Widget system cannot be guaranteed if other tools are used.

Conclusion

Technical writers are responsible for producing documentation that, among other things, provides safety information in a way that is clear, concise and precise. All too often, I have read technical documentation that is misleading. Notes are called Warnings or Disclaimers. Warnings are placed after the event to which they relate, or not at all. By using the method of selection and placement described in this article, documentation can provide the reader with the information required in a structured consistent format.

David Tinsley is Manager, Technical Communications at NDI, Waterloo and may be contacted at dtinsley@ndigital.com.