Industrial Safety Training using Virtual Reality

Traditionally, industrial safety training has been done using case studies, incident re-enactments, and personal experience narratives. The use of Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) in safety education has been shown to significantly enhance knowledge retention, promote a safety culture, and improve student engagement. The goal of this project at the Lamar Institute of Technology (LIT) in Beaumont Texas, is to enhance LIT's Process Operating Technology and Instrumentation Technology programs by using VR/AR technology to immerse students in realistic, interactive industrial safety training scenarios that will reinforce risk mitigation, emergency response, and teamwork. This approach will address the increasing demand for comprehensive, immersive safety education in industry, preparing students for employment in industrial settings while minimizing physical hazards during training. Key objectives of the project include identifying essential safety skills and certifications, updating curriculum with VR-based training, and ensuring industry recognition of improved student safety awareness. Faculty will collaborate with industry advisors to align the curriculum with workforce needs and ensure sustainability beyond the project's duration. The techniques developed in this project will help to address an industry wide concern and have the potential to lead to a reduced number of accidents and incidents, both on and off the jobsite, consequently decreasing insurance claims and associated costs for businesses and increasing overall safety and well-being on the jobsite and the community. This project is funded by the Advanced Technological Education program that focuses on the education of technicians for the advanced-technology fields that drive the nation's economy. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.