Emergency response training is the bane of most safety officers.
Who can blame them? There are basically only 2 choices to take:
- Conduct a powerpoint-based presentations. 100% theory-filled pages full of bullet lists and occasional outdated pictures.
- Prop-based classroom. A room with tools and contraptions that participants can pretend-use.
The first option is the most common form due to its simplicity and low cost. However it’s hard to imagine going to one without putting a huge label of “BORING” on it. Moreover the absorption rate is extremely low. It seems like the trainer and the participants are both just barely awake throughout the presentation… but they did just for the sake of fulfilling job requirements.
The prop-based classroom is a good method. Depending on the trainer-participants ratio and the flow, it can be very fruitful. But the glaring problem is the logistic issues – procuring, maintaining and storing. In addition the manpower needed in the trainer side is not small. Couple that with hands-on assessment and you’ll need a squad of trainers to do this regularly. This can easily be one of the high-maintenance budget of your department.
Actually there is another form of training: live simulation. Here you prepare an area for the mock incident, invite a bunch of live actors, have them put on blood-stained getups and act out the whole emergency scenario while your participants put their emergency response to the test. If you’re feeling fancy, you can also throw in real fire and real fire extinguishers.
It is the most immersive and fruitful form of training. But the resources and preparation required are so daunting that having it just as a one-time-off event is already a luxury – let alone doing it frequently. So we can safely cross this out as an option.
Now what if you can have a safety training that is:
- As immersive as live simulation training without breaking the bank?
- As fruitful as prop-based classroom without the logistic nightmare?
- As simple as theory-based presentation but without making the participants sleep after 5 minutes?
Enter VR training simulation.
In VR, you can be as immersed as in live simulation. You’ll see raging fire, people screaming, blood splatter and other incidents that are too expensive to recreate in real life. Your adrenaline will kick in and you will start acting as if you’re in a real incident.
Combine that with virtually-tracked props, you can hold a real fire extinguisher while still see it in VR. You can compress a CPR dummy in real life while what you see is a fainted person in VR.
Since the whole scenario can be sequenced according to your script, it’s practically on auto pilot. Your participant can just come, follow the tutorial and do the training themselves.
The system only requires about 4m x 4m area. Just a PC and a VR system. No other stuffs that required constant maintenance.
Still not convinced?
In VR we can track the participants movements and actions. Hence putting in automated scoring system is not impossible. Now you can confidently put your trust in your employees’ emergency preparedness as long as they passed the test.
Changing machinery all the time? No problem, we can just recreate it in virtual world rather than having to replicate the whole system physically. Let your employees have more confident in operating the machines even before they arrived.
Talk to us today. We can help you transform your mundane safety training into an engaging experience.
