Research Interests: ^top

• Product and occupational safety
• Human factors engineering/ergonomics
• Development and evaluation of warnings and instructions
• Risk communication and risk perception
• Environmental health communication

Biography: ^top

Julia Diebol is managing consultant at Applied Safety and Ergonomics, Inc., in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Her professional practice and academic training include product and occupational safety, human factors/ergonomics, public health, and environmental health sciences.  Dr. Diebol regularly evaluates warnings, instructions, chemical labels, safety data sheets, and other hazard communications in occupational, consumer, and community settings.  She also researches and analyzes current and historical standards and regulations for product and occupational safety and chemical hazard communication.  Dr. Diebol is a certified product safety manager (C.P.S.M.), chairs the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication (SCHC) board of directors, and is a member of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (HFES) and the Society for Risk Analysis (SRA).

Dr. Diebol teaches Safety Management (IOE 438).  She also directs a professional development course for the Society for Chemical Hazard Communication regarding human factors for chemical hazard communication in consumer and industrial settings.  Dr. Diebol has experience using a variety of research methods to assess perceptions of risk and satisfaction with technical communications, including population surveys, structured interviews, and focus groups.  In 2013, Dr. Diebol completed a large-scale study of community satisfaction with environmental risk information in the context of industrial contamination.