You couldn鈥檛 call it subtle. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is adding a skull and crossbones and the figure of a person running away to its warning symbol for dangerous ionising radiation.
鈥淭oo many people get injured each year when they find a large source of radiation, don鈥檛 understand the symbol and take off the lead shielding,鈥� says Carolyn MacKenzie of the IAEA. In recent incidents, people have died trying to salvage cobalt sources from dumped medical equipment.
When the IAEA tested the original radiating 鈥渢refoil鈥� symbol at an international school, it found that many children mistook the trefoil for a non-threatening propeller. So on 15 February it launched the new design, adding alarming images to the trefoil.
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The IAEA tested it in 11 countries. 鈥淚t means stop, run away,鈥� says MacKenzie. 鈥淢ost people got the message.鈥�
