This study investigated whether or not training methods affected the effectiveness of symbol training and if there were any relationships between sign symbol characteristics and training effectiveness. Altogether, 26 Mainland China industrial safety signs were used and 60 participants were randomly assigned into four equal-sized groups of control, paired-associate learning, recall training and recognition training. The result was that participants from all the training groups showed significantly greater improvement in comprehension performance than those in the control group, indicating that the training methods improved comprehension of the meaning of safety signs. Participants from the recall training group performed better in the post-training test than those from other training groups. It seems that the recall task elicited a deeper level of learning than the recognition task and that questioning and feedback had a positive effect on training effectiveness. The results also showed that sign characteristics had no significant influence on training effectiveness. It was concluded that recall training is more effective in enhancing comprehension of industrial safety signs than paired-associate learning or recognition training. The findings of this study provide a basis for useful guidelines for designing symbol-training programmes and for designing more user-friendly safety signs.

Statement of Relevance: The present study shows that recall training was more effective in improving comprehension of industrial safety signs than paired-associate learning or recognition training and cognitive sign features did not influence training effectiveness. They provide a basis for useful guidelines for designing symbol-training programmes and for designing more user-friendly safety signs.