UX Writer and Tester | Emergency Planning Database

2020 | Washington State Department of Ecology | Timeline: 3 months

The Washington State Emergency Planning Database is used by thousands of businesses in Washington to report their chemical information every year, which is required by law and is shared with local fire departments and emergency responders so they’re aware of any toxic chemicals on-site.

Solutions applied

UX writing. Plain talk. UX writing. Condensed information to concise, action-oriented language. Moved fields around to create clearer, user-friendly flow.
User testing. Tested database in both test and prod as a business would. Worked with subject matter experts to clarify issues I encountered.
Created communication plan to notify businesses of changes.

Results

Improved reporting. Cleaner database. User-friendly submittal process.

Problems to solve

Confusing instructions. Overly wordy and difficult to follow. Users often enter the wrong “authorized name.” They forget to send reports to other required agencies.
New reporting requirements. Businesses now have to choose from a possible 20 hazard categories as opposed to the previous 5.
New location requirements. Businesses now have to use latitude/longitude.