Legal and ethical concerns - Instructions and procedures

Practical models for technical communication - Shannon Kelley 2021

Legal and ethical concerns
Instructions and procedures

With both instructions and procedures, it’s important to think about potential liabilities. Instruction sets, for example, might require tools that could cause harm if used improperly. The writer of instructions can’t assume that the user will know how to use a tool safely. For this reason, many instruction sets include warnings (figure 9.13). Warnings should be given before the user begins the task, and the warning should be accompanied by some kind of visual marker, such as an icon, contrasting color, white space, or large text to set it apart from the rest of the document.

Always consider safety when writing instructions. Do you need to remind the user about wearing eye protection or ensuring their workspace has proper ventilation? Some instruction sets include broad statements about the user taking full responsibility for any activities involved in the instructions. Technical communicators should consult with their company’s legal department to discuss how to approach possible liability.

Unclear wording can be a problem with instructions or procedures. If a user misunderstands instructions due to poor wording, the result could be damage to property or bodily harm. If a procedure is unclear due to language, the result could be the loss of company profits, damage to a business’s reputation, or employee dissatisfaction. Technical communicators are responsible for testing instructions and procedures by submitting them for review. This means you must budget additional time to allow for conducting usability tests and revising the document based on those results.