Labels and Arrangement/Placement in the Wild

I saw this sign above a mysterious wooden-looking box next to the elevator at a hotel. It reminded me about what the TapRooT® Root Cause Tree® and TapRooT® Root Cause Tree Dictionary have to say about labels and arrangement/placement.

The Arabic text is obviously important, and I can tell it says “In case of fire” in English, so I think this may be an alarm or extinguisher. At 5’6″ (167cm), I’m below the 5th percentile for American men, so I’m used to short-people problems.

Here’s what the sign actually says:

Still not sure what the box is for! Following the TapRooT® Process leads us to ask the following questions:

Are the labels hard to read or obscured by other equipment? YES – Labels Need Improvement

If a person was required to see something, was his view blocked? YES – Arrangement/Placement

Labels NI and Arrangement/Placement are root causes in the Basic Cause Category Human Engineering, one of seven basic cause categories analyzed under Human Performance Difficulty on the TapRooT® Root Cause Tree® during a formal root cause analysis.

For a deep dive into the analysis and correction of Human Engineering root causes and all other categories of Human Performance issues with individual, team, and management systems, attend a public 5-Day TapRooT® Advanced Root Cause Analysis Team Leader course, and learn everything you need to plan, coordinate, and properly conduct a major investigation.

Contact a TapRooT® Strategic Advisor at System Improvements through LinkedIn or by contacting us for a demonstration and to start planning your TapRooT® implementation today!