Safety and health programs are an essential part of any industry. These training regimes are supposed to be compliant with the applicable regulations to make sure that the workers receive the required skills related to personal safety from dangerous situations that may arise while working in a hazardous environment.
They must know the correct safety measures to follow while conducting a task and must possess the insights to tackle any unpredictable situation.
Traditional safety and health training provide the education and skills to the workers that are mandatory to operate in an uncertain situation.
However, these conventional training practices can be quite expensive and time-consuming. Also, these training sessions don’t provide the visualization that is required to grasp the concepts regarding safety procedures.
Virtual Reality is an emerging immersion technology that allows a person to explore a virtual environment through the use of VR headsets. Through the use of hand controllers, it allows a person to interact with various virtual elements present in the 3-dimensional simulation.
VR will enable a company to prepare virtual training regimes that will help the workers to visualize all the safety practices and guidelines. A virtual reality simulator will help the workers learn the correct way to operate a tool or equipment.
This hands-on experience will act as a foundation for the worker and allow him/her to focus and retain important details. These safety training based simulations will enhance the inspection practices of the workers and the organization.
With a onetime investment, VR will provide the required skills and knowledge to the workforce of an organization related to safety in a cost-effective manner.
Some other advantages of virtual reality related to safety and health training are:
- Preparing workers for real-life scenarios:
An accident can happen anytime while working even with a fraction of carelessness. Taking immediate actions in such cases can reduce huge losses and prevent severe outcomes.
Virtual reality will enable a company to prepare real-life simulations of unthinkable hazardous situations that will present difficult situations in front of the workers. These simulations will help workers learn the important skills required to deal with unpredictable situations.
This will also eliminate the need to put the workers in risky situations during training. Workers will first learn the correct way to operate their equipment in a virtual environment before they can practice it in the conventional safety training program.
Other than this, since the training is immersive and is in the form of visuals, the workers will remember the details of the training for a long period of times. Their retention and recall timing through VR training will be more as compared to the conventional training which in turn will allow them to take appropriate actions instantly.
- Simplification of a complex process:
Virtual Reality also acts as a platform for designing and prototyping. By recreating processes of an industry in a virtual simulation and conducting reverse engineering, various loopholes and discrepancies related to worker safety can be found.
This process can also be used for equipment, tools, machinery, and processes.
By making instant modifications in the design, the problem can be solved without running another simulation. This will enable the company to produce a more ergonomic and safe design for workers.
- Industry related safety practices:
Every industry has its separate needs and requirements. The safety and health practices used in oil and Gas Corporation will be completely different from the mining industry.
Based on the specific requirement of the industry, concentrated safety and health-related modifications can be made in the VR simulation itself. These safety practices will train workers specifically for a particular type of industry and allow the company to make objective oriented modifications.
Various sectors that can benefit from virtual reality safety training are:
- Construction
- Manufacturing
- Mining
- Oil and Gas
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CONCLUSION:
Virtual Reality allows an organization to enforce safety and health practices in its vicinity. It adds value to the employee learning experience through its engaging and entertaining content.
With an immersive environment, the workers can also visualize the processes which will encourage them to share their own insights and contribute to making modifications in the safety practices of the company.
Enhanced training processes will improve the skills and accuracy of the workers which in turn will boost the company’s efficiency, overall equipment effectiveness, and total production.
With conventional hands-on training by in-person trainers, virtual reality will amplify the safety and health training of an organization.