title: Safety in passenger ships: The influence of environmental design characteristics on people's perception of safety.
abstract: Although objective safety is a widely studied topic in ergonomics, subjective safety has received far less research attention. Nevertheless, most of human decision-making and behavior depends on how we perceive our environment. This study investigates the effects of various environmental design characteristics on people's safety perception in a passenger ship context. Five different environmental design characteristics were manipulated to increase the openness of the space or to create more clear navigation, resulting in 20 different cabin corridors for a passenger ship. Ninety-seven respondents were asked to rate these corridors on the perceived safety in an experiment. The results showed that people feel more safe when the corridors have a curved ceiling, when the walls do not have a split-level design, and when there is a view to the outside. Designers can use these insights when designing future environments.
authors.affiliation: Aalto University, School of Arts, Design and Architecture/School of Engineering, PO Box 12200, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland. Electronic address: markus.ahola@aalto.fi.
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ahola
authors.affiliation: Delft University of Technology, Department of Product Innovation Management, Landbergstraat 15, 2628 CE Delft, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.mugge@tudelft.nl.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mugge
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001108:Architecture; D004779:Environment Design; D006804:Ergonomics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007374:Interior Design and Furnishings; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010465:Perception; D012449:Safety; D012767:Ships
keywords: Architectural design; Environmental design; Perception; Safety