Company-X senior consultant Lance Bauerfeind demonstrated examples of virtual reality (VR)-based health and safety training at BCD Group’s team conference.
The engineering and consulting firm hosted its annual conference for staff, bringing the whole company together to connect and learn. This year the theme was teamwork and what makes a high performing team, with organisers looking for something “outside the square” in the health and safety area to genuinely engage with staff around this important issue.
The Health and Safety Showcase let BCD staff see how simulated environments make it possible for teams to experience learning scenarios that might be hazardous or expensive to replicate in real life.
Staff got to try out a simulation developed by Company-X for WorkSafe. The gamified training module centres around identifying fume hazards and solutions in a welding workshop, using virtual reality (VR) technology to create a truly immersive experience.
BCD’s people and culture administrator Charlotte Sarsfield said the examples “hit the nail on the head” in terms of highlighting the role that VR can plan in health and safety training.
“It was a nice, practical and interactive approach to health and safety,” he said.
Company-X specialises in creating immersive training experiences using virtual and augmented reality environments, particularly useful for situations where hazardous conditions or costs make real-life training impractical, or to create more engaging learning experiences.
Recent Company-X simulation projects include safety training for FirstGas, a meat-scribing game for the Australian Meat Processing Corporation, biosecurity training for IVS, as well as the WorkSafe Health and Safety workshop which was last year road-showed across New Zealand.