๐๐๐๐: ๐๐ข๐ซ๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ข๐ง๐ข๐ง๐ !
According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, electrical mishaps are among the deadliest industrial mishaps, with one out of every ten resulting in a fatality (OSHA). In reality, it just takes a tenth of an amp to stop a human heart. Despite this, company safety training courses are typically offered in ineffective ways, such as through individual web-based training or classroom-style presentations. Today, however, technological breakthroughs are altering this, as well as the entire face of corporate training programmes.
Virtual reality (VR) is fast changing the way businesses operate, and there are numerous compelling benefits and motivations for enterprises to invest in VR. To maximize return on investment, forward-thinking firms are already utilizing VR to better retain and inspire their employees, as well as create immersive training environments where teams can learn by doing (ROI).
The University of Nottinghamโs Human Factors Research Group created an immersive VR system to excite participantsโ perception of temperature, as well as their senses of smell, sight, and hearing, to see how they acted during two OSHA training scenarios: an emergency evacuation in the event of a fire and a gasoline leak.
Participants in one scenario had to flee a virtual fire in an office, which they could see and hear through a VR headset while also feeling the heat from three 2kW heaters and smelling smoke through a scent diffuser, creating a multimodal virtual experience. This group was compared to another that was observed in the same scenario but solely used audio-visual VR features.
As part of the study, another test was conducted to compare the effectiveness of VR training to regular PowerPoint instruction. Participants completed questionnaires before and after training, as well as one week later, to assess their understanding of fire safety and safe vehicle disassembly procedures.
When participants were assessed immediately after training, they looked to have gained more information, but when they were retested one week later, they had a considerably bigger fall in knowledge scores. The VR group, on the other hand, had superior long-term retention and reported higher levels of involvement; attitude toward workplace safety and health; and willingness to participate in future training. The findings show that increasing cognitive engagement with learning in a virtual environment leads to more established and thorough mental models that can improve memory.
These tests led OSHA to employ Virtual reality (VR)-based training methods that authentically simulates working circumstances, allowing learners to connect with training in ways that traditional teaching methods cannot. The Fall Safety VR Training Simulator was financed by OSHA, a VR application that was created as an instructional safety platform to train construction employees on safe practices at building sites, especially when it comes to the dangers of falls. The app is designed to supplement traditional training by providing workers with a series of entertaining and interactive quizzes to promote memory retention. This can aid in the implementation of more effective safety procedures in a variety of job tasks, including high-risk locations like meat processing factories, airports, and auto factories. VR-based immersive learning also allows for a more constant and scalable delivery of training, allowing for continuous learning rather than a periodic refresher.
Similarly, InfiVR offers a fully rendered and photo-realistic 3D training environment with a variety of activities such as a safety sweep, root cause investigation, and emergency response. Each immersive situation has its own set of characteristics, equipment, and risk factors. A randomizing feature introduces features that are unique to each training session, encouraging retention rather than memorization.
