Use of virtual reality technology in safety training.
As technology continues to progress, the upgrade of safety awareness training programmes/classes becomes
more crucial. In our technologically advanced world today, the traditional way of raising one"s safety
awareness and knowledge via “verbal emphasis and slides sharing” becomes the secondary choice as it is
unable to meet the standards of the world"s advancements. Instead, virtual reality is brought into the
picture thanks to its outstanding effectiveness which greatly surpassed that of the typical methods.
Disadvantages of traditional methods of training
To begin, the traditional means of carrying out safety training classes revolves around lectures and wordy
materials with an occasional addition of videos based off of real life occurrences. However, the impact of
this kind of training programme is insignificant due to the absence of personal experiences, leading to the
negligence of crucial details which then cause destructive accidents to befall in real-world scenario.
Needless to say, a live action remake or/and demonstration of accidents would also fail to amplify the vital
details that requires to be taken note of since traditional training programmes are standardised in nature.
Advantage of virtual reality training programmes
An increasing amount of VR technology are replacing the "old-class" system of work in various work sectors
following the advancement of this particular technology. For example, virtual reality is now widely used in
major fields including medical, educational, internship and civil defense.
The greatest advantage offered by virtual reality technology when utilising it to teach labour workers about
safety awareness is its ability to transport the worker to an identical setting to that of the construction
site in a flash. With the help of this facility, workers would be able to immerse into the construction site
and personally engage with it. Moreover, workers would also be able to explore the sit that is virtually
stimulated. In this case, they would be faced with sudden dangers and accidents without warning, a perfect
adaptation of what would happen in real-life. This provides them with the chance to experience the fear they
would be instilled with when being met with such dangers first-hand. Having felt the fright of an accident
as well as the threat it brings on a personal level, workers would not only be more vigilant at work, they
would also take the initiative to ensure the safety of their workplace with the goal of preventing any
detrimental accidents from happening.
Having said that, as a Singapore based company, we thoroughly analyse the surroundings of construction
sites, not leaving out any details, to create the optimum modification for the virtual reality stimulus with
the ideal conditions. We will use some of Singapore"s very own placards, companies" names and icons, as well
as local dialects and the way people communicate to maximise the resemblance to real-world contexts which in
turn raises the level of realism and minimises the feeling of foreignness. At the same time, we will
specifically target the distinctive variations of accidents which transpired at different construction
sites, analysing each of their cause and effects to cover all the divergent accidents in depthly. These
series of accidents would be divided into molecules fitted to each of their own, allowing workers to pick
the one which corresponds to their working environment the best.
In conclusion, with the assistance of the newly developed VR technology, we can ditch the less effective and
boring traditional way of conducting safety awareness training programmes. Virtual Reality not only can
mimic the actual construction site more vividly and detailed, it also saves time and space. All we need is a
pair of VR headset to enable workers to engage in a brand new and unique experience of the training
programme anywhere,anytime. At the end of the day, VR technology massively increased the success rate of
coaching labour workers into one with higher level of safety awareness all while lowering the cost and
resources required.
VR Stimulations and Manual (Scene 1)
Displays:
- Construction buildings on site
- Commonly seen placards
- Companies" name and icons
All these displays increases sense of realism
The inside of the construction work would be presented along with guidance for workers to follow in order
for them to walk along the plank and get to another side in the VR world.
Occurrence of the accident itself:
Shall the worker fail to fasten his safety harness securely and abide by protocol, the plank he walks or
stands on in the VR world fall due to its fragility, resulting in him falling out of the window and onto the
ground below.
Aftermath of fall:
The worker will land on rows of razor-sharp iron bars which will pierce through his body
VR Stimulations and Manual (Scene 2)
Accidents involving crane
Workers on site breaking the safety measures while single-handedly controlling cranes with prefabricated
panels hanging from it will lead to the misplacement of the massive panels due to the swing in the wrong
direction. Ultimately, it would collide with a worker, pushing him off the safety barrier, causing him to
fall to the ground.