A MODEL OF “FEELING OF SECURITY” AND “SAFETY UTILITY” ABOUT SAFETY ARTIFACTS

摘要

Products and systems against crime have an extensive presence in public and private fields. The ever-growing need for safety has driven engineers and designers to improve the products’ technical and functional characters. This research aims to define two perception indexes, namely “feeling of security” and “safety utility,” referring to safety artifacts’ mental and physical security. An online survey was conducted to investigate urban residence’ perception of six safety products. Subsequently, we constructed a conceptual model to quantify the correlations between factors affecting the perception of security by the Structural Equation Model (SEM). The results showed that feeling of security is influenced by the trust of helpers or providers and knowledge of the artifacts, while safety utility is primarily affected by functional features as prevention and mitigation ability. This paper further suggested design strategies for different categories of safety artifacts.