English 202C: Technical Writing

INTERCLASSROOM COMMUNICATION
To: Chenchen Huang <cxh561@psu.edu>
From: Marisa Deichert <mld5595@psu.edu>
Subject: Basic Rhetorical Analysis – Best Practices Guide: Fundamentals of a Workplace
First-Aid Program
Date: May 16, 2018

The purpose of this memo is to articulate my evaluation of the usability and analysis of the
effectivity of the “Best Practices Guide: Fundamentals of a Workplace First-Aid Program.” This
memo will explain how well it relies on effective technical communication practices.

Summary
The evaluation and analysis of the Best Practices Guide, a guide made to advise, inform, and assist
employers in providing a safe and healthful workplace, is broken up into the six characteristics.
These characteristics for technical communication include: addressing particular readers, helping
readers solve problems, reflecting an organization’s goals and culture, produced collaboratively,
designed to increase readability, and consisting of words, graphics or both.

Evaluation and Analysis of Technical Communication in “Best Practices Guide”

Addressing Particular Readers
The first characteristic of a technical document is addressing particular readers. The primary
audience, those directly involved with the document, are the workplace employers and first-aid
providers who instate a healthful workplace. The secondary audience, those not directly involved
but still aware, is the employees of the workplaces since they are the individuals who receive the
training. The tertiary audience, those who take an interest in the subject of the document, are the
public and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

For the primary audience, seven factors affect how the author wrote the document: the reader’s
education, professional experience, job responsibility, reading skill, cultural characteristics,
personal characteristics, and personal preferences. The reader’s education about the topic is
assumed to be insufficient in first-aid, evidenced by the fact that there are many definitions, basic
facts, and statistics included. The readers, who are implementing first-aid training in the workplace,
must have the education required for the job, which can vary drastically. The sectors provided by
the North America Industrial Classification System (NAICS) that are listed in the figures (Figure 1
and Figure 3) are Information, Natural resources and mining, Other services, Financial activities,
Professional and business surfaces, Leisure and hospitality, Construction, Educational and health
services, Manufacturing, and Trade, transportation and utilities. The type of job and level of
education of the reader also affects the reading skill; the document is written in detail, but also uses
terms that are appropriate across many educational levels. Since the document was published in
2006, the reader only has information about first-aid that was up-to-date for that time. The reader’s
professional experience about first-aid is assumed to be limited; in dealing with health, it is best to
provide enough information then not enough. Additionally, employers that are reading this
document might never have been trained in workplace first-aid before, so the document must
provide all the information necessary. The reader’s job responsibility is to become adequately
trained and train others in first-aid so that if something were to happen in the workplace, an
employer or employee would be able to deliver emergency care until emergency medical service
(EMS) arrives. Therefore, the document contains information on the type of equipment the
workplace should have as well as important elements of a training program. The reader’s cultural
and personal characteristics and personal preferences coincide with American preferences, since the
document is for workplaces in the United States. This makes it simpler because both the writer and
reader are from the same country.

Helping Readers Solve Problems

The second characteristic of a technical document is helping readers solve problems. In this
document, a guide is made to train workplace employees in first-aid. First, background information
is provided to the reader, such as the risks, analysis of injuries, illnesses and fatalities, OSHA
requirements, types of first-aid supplies and defibrillators, and first-aid courses offered by several
organizations. Then, elements of a training program outlined give instructions on how to teach,
prepare, and respond to various emergencies. A guide is the best type of document to write to
include the detail needed. The informative nature of the guide allows the reader to use the guide to
solve their problem – train employees in first-aid.

Reflecting an Organization’s Goals and Culture

The third characteristic of a technical document is reflecting an organization’s goals and culture.
The federal government has an act, The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, that requires
employers to comply with the regulations of OSHA or an OSHA-approved state plan. If an
employer is instating these hazard-specific safety and health standards and regulations, the
workplace should be free from hazards that can cause death or injury. The employers value their
employees and respect the governments wishes to keep workplaces safe.

Produced Collaboratively
The fourth characteristic of a technical document is if the document is produced collaboratively.
The guide uses many references in the writing of the document – an entire page is dedicated to
those references (page 17). There are links provided for additional resources from trustworthy
organizations. Additionally, footnotes are used to credit facts and statistics to various organizations,
such as American Heart Association and the National Safety Council. The facts and sources used
help to provide ethos and credibility to the document.

Use of Design to Increase Readability

The fifth characteristic of a technical document is if the document uses design to increase
readability. The document is broken up into sections with title headers, organized in a logical order.
Starting with the introduction and purpose, the document continues with some background
information on occupational injuries, illnesses, and fatalities; talks about first-aid supplies; elements
of a training program; and summarizes the document while also including some references. Most
sections use paragraph format while the “Elements of a First-Aid Training Program” use bullet
points to list the elements and their contents in a logical manner. The style of the document is
simple, yet has some color and a few charts to add attraction and statistics.

Consisting of words, graphics, or both

The sixth characteristic of a technical document is whether the document consists of words,
graphics, or both. The guide uses almost entirely words, with only four bar graphs that provide
examples of fatality, injury and illness analyses using Bureau of Labor Statistics. A
recommendation would be to add more graphics – especially to the “Elements of a First-Aid
Training Program,” “First-Aid Supplies,” and “Automated External Defibrillators” in order to give
the reader a better picture of the training and supplies that the author is describing.