Products with too small “directions for use”

[Haliotis]

Needing some knotting varnish, I visited Wickes, which is our nearest DIY store.  They sell Knotting Solution (250ml which is pricey at £15) but had to have it.  It is a solvent based solution, and does have COSHH advice.   

But the literature printed on the label.  - and there’s a lot of it - is so tiny that it is so difficult to read, even with a magnifying glass.   Many manufacturers pare guilty of this fault - from DIY products to foodstuffs.  When shopping in supermarkets, I find best before/use by dates very hard to read - frequently because they ‘wrong colour’ printing on unsuitable backgrounds.  One example is a brand of pie - small white print on a pale orange background.

The government are good at insisting upon packaging having lots of information (e.g., nutrition values), but should they not have gone further and legislated for ALL important information to be of reasonably large print, and with a strikingly visible difference between print and background?  Shoppers with very limited vision must really have problems.

[flash22]

it's all online these days

https://media.wickes.co.uk/is/content/wickes/O0814_214302_COSHH_0

• Colour: Light brown
• Size: 0.75 L <<<< error on their site
• Application Method: Brush
• Interior or Exterior Use: Both
• Coverage per Litre: 7-8 m2

• Drying Time: 30 minutes
• Drying time between coats: 30 minutes
• Clean equipment with: White spirit
• Suitable for: Wood & metal
• VOC Level: High

[Roy124]

I also got a strimmer from Amazon.  The instructions,  such as they were,were readable but bore little relevance to the facts.  Still it had a 12 month warranty.

What the instructions also lacked was a product ID, maker's name,  Web address, email address or QR Code.

I should have rejected it.

[Haliotis]

It may be on line, Bob, but that isn’t a credible excuse.  There will be users who do not have the facilities or ability to obtain the necessary information by that method - to use that as a main access is discriminatory.  It is also useless at the point of sale - no good asking a shop assistant - these people are not required to have technical knowledge in order to serve.  I still maintain that my argument is a valid one.

[Rhymes with Paris]

Aye Albert,it is annoying.

And you probably know anyway, but l would guess that it boils down to avoid breathing in any fumes, and don't get it on your skin or in your eyes.

A dust mask if you can bear it,and latex gloves, and wear long sleeves .

Hope you eradicate your knots ok .

[Cyker]

Hah, amusingly I had a similar gripe today - Was trying to get the serial number off a laptop but it's printed in dark grey on a dark grey casing

 

[Primus1]

Last time I followed instructions I ended up in hospital, it said on the cooking instructions, pierce tin and stand in boiling water…

[Big_D]

@Haliotis I agree with both your posts above. Personally, I struggle to read the tiny print on labels, especially when they print light text on a light background.

Also, unlike many people today, my Smart phone is not glued to me, so I don't always have access to the Interweb to download COSHH documents. I also flatly refuse to scan QR codes, as I have no idea where they will be taking me (especially with the threat of malicious websites)

[flash22]

On 6/11/2024 at 6:44 PM, Cyker said:

Hah, amusingly I had a similar gripe today - Was trying to get the serial number off a laptop but it's printed in dark grey on a dark grey casing

 

take a pic and zoom in, in the days of engraved serials, the old B2 pencil and paper trick worked to make a rubbing

 

now reading numbers off SMD parts is fun you have to catch the light just right with some of them

[Cyker]

Yeah it was just like that! Like everything's the same colour, just the print is shinier.

It's worse than those anti-piracy anti-photocopy pages you used to have to use to play old copy-protected games!

 

[dannyboy413]

Some instructions are so tiny, I need a magnifying glass to read them!