The two trendiest themes in building right now have to be safety and technology. So let’s discuss how technology is used in safety training, specifically virtual reality-based safety training.
Training in virtual reality is nothing new. With virtual reality, employees can practice in a realistic setting. For many years, pilot training has used airplane simulators. Simulators for training on construction equipment are also becoming more common and well-liked in the sector. Virtual reality is also beginning to appear in safety training.
So how can VR fit into training for building site safety? Is this a sound method? Is that bad? Can it be trusted?
Virtual reality’s advantages and new construction technologies
Involvement and investment in training using virtual reality may be higher among the younger generation. Let’s face it, the following generations grew up with technology. They have better technical knowledge. While a comprehensive safety program will include more than just VR, it is likely that they would rather try out their abilities in VR simulators than listen to lectures.
The use of virtual reality in training has many benefits. Compared to a standard lecture or video presentation, it might be more interesting. It’s more secure. With virtual reality (VR), high-risk scenarios can be trained without the expenses or potentially harmful outcomes of a real-life scenario. When it comes to working safely at heights, VR training can provide a more secure environment for workers to train in. It is possible to simulate high-risk events without the costs or potentially negative results of a real-life scenario. This can assist workers in gaining the confidence and expertise needed to perform securely at heights without endangering themselves or others.
Workers can take ownership of their individual skill development using VR training as well. If you have staff members who are seriously unmotivated, this might not be an effective strategy. However, allowing your staff to take responsibility for their own security training might be advantageous if you want to help them become independent, decision-making individuals.
Safety training gets a new dimension
The majority of VR training simulators also have data-recording capabilities that let companies monitor how employees are doing and identify any areas that could require extra training or attention.
Numerous VR training courses can also be altered to match the needs of certain work sites or contractors in terms of both the virtual setting and the safety training.
Training in virtual reality enables endless repetition
To achieve mastery, repetition is the key. With roughly 10,000 hours of focused effort, one can become a master in a clearly defined discipline. Due to the unreasonably high cost of such repetition in the construction industry, the majority of this deliberate practice is unavoidably done while working.
This level of purposeful practice can become much more practical with virtual reality training. Unlike more conventional training in the real world, operating a VR learning scenario has a low added cost.
Workers receive the opportunity to don a virtual reality headset and practice the task repeatedly until they can do it safely and flawlessly.
Training in virtual reality can be more effective
Numerous advantages that we have already discussed show that virtual reality training environments are more efficient and effective overall than conventional physical training environments.
You can make your building training safety programs far more site-specific, regular, and repeatable by using virtual reality training without dramatically raising the cost or time involved. In fact, research and practical uses of VR training reveal that it reduces the time required to acquire the same material that is typically covered by more conventional training techniques.
Training environments are safer thanks to virtual reality
Construction is, by its very nature, risky. People working at precarious heights on narrow scaffolding in addition to the hazardous skilled construction tasks that already require moving tons of timber, drywall, stainless steel, and other building materials, putting countless pounds of concrete, running and linking lighting, and so forth.
It’s a risky game just to keep these workers safe. It’s crucial to place these people in relevant training situations. This training must replicate not only accurate circumstances but also the feelings, sensations, and diversions that pervade these dangerous workplaces in order to be effective.
Possibility to design more realistic, risky training
There are various restrictions on simulating actual construction. If you want to practice lifting tons of steel with a huge crane, laying countless pounds of cement footing, or building a 15-story superstructure, try locating a place of instruction that can handle those things.
One significant benefit is the ability to simulate the risks and outcomes of following (or disregarding) safety rules. The majority, perhaps all, of the risky tasks that an employee will be required to complete in line with the project’s schedule can be practiced. Additionally, individuals can practice these tasks in the identical working environments that they will encounter on the job site.
You can also simulate the actual feelings of heights, diversions, tension, and environmental hazards with VR training. People frequently overlook these emotional and mental risks during training because they are unable to exceed the acceptable level of danger.
Lower training costs with virtual reality
You’ve undoubtedly noticed the cost-saving theme running through this list of advantages by this time. Cutting the cost of accurately recreating a wide range of building dangers and gauging the proper use of safety procedures is possible using programs and some reasonably priced hardware.
A thorough safety training program includes cost-saving in every aspect. However, the greatest cost savings are likely to be gained by avoiding the necessity of either physically building or traveling to an adequate educational facility or temporarily closing down a genuine job site in order to offer a useful teaching environment.
Bottom line: Costs associated with construction safety training cannot be negotiated. The commercial case for VR training, however, becomes dominant if you can do it in a shorter period of time and with less money while still being more successful than the alternative.
The difficulties the construction sector faces in guaranteeing worker safety are addressed via VR training, which offers a promising answer. Construction safety education could be revolutionized by virtual reality training because it offers immersive, interesting, and affordable training experiences. Senior safety managers are crucial in promoting VR training uptake and guaranteeing its successful incorporation into their organizations’ safety education activities. The adoption of VR training is a crucial step toward a safer, more effective construction workforce as the sector continues to develop.