The Challenge
Germs are invisible, but the consequences aren’t. This VR experience brings the stakes of handwashing to life—literally. Our client needed a company-wide benchmark to ensure employees followed proper handwashing protocols. With a workforce ranking among the top 50 global enterprises, they needed a hospital-grade level solution in hand sanitation. But handwashing, which sounds almost subconsciously habitual, is surprisingly easy to get wrong.
Hand Tracking: Fast-Facts on Hand Hygiene
- A widely reported statistic is that proper handwashing can reduce the occurrence of some respiratory diseases by 21%
- One study found that only about 3% of participants washed their hands properly!
- Three hours; that’s how long some germs can survive on your hands
- Visible dirt on the hands? Bacteria spores can survive for years in soil
This company needed a way for employees to physically demonstrate their entire handwashing procedure end-to-end without a trainer present.
The design, navigation, use and completion had to be accessible to people of any tech proficiency. It needed to be something that essentially any person could successfully complete and was intentionally built for accessibility, allowing users of all backgrounds to navigate it with ease. If you can use your hands, you can confidently engage with this program. Even those with minimal tech experience were able to navigate the training, complete the exercises, and pass the course—making this solution both intuitive and effective.
Client’s Concerns and Pain Points
The training needed to have some way to prove that it was done right; ensuring physical motions were done correctly
The VR solution had to align with the company’s goal of reducing hardware reliance – for this application, no controllers.
It had to be engaging without seeming like some sort of pedantic kindergarten lesson on washing hands. The lesson is for adults, and the goal is thorough and immersive engagement. Still, adults can tell if they’re being tricked into paying attention.
With learners of varying technical backgrounds, the program needed to be highly intuitive and easy to use.
From medical professionals to food service workers, the training had to accommodate a wide range of learners without limiting access based on prior experience. Your skill level shouldn’t limit your ability to learn.
The training had to simulate several different virtual environment locations including stadiums, cafés, hospitals and more to help them scale to all their employees and locations.
“. . . poor hygiene is a significant factor for a large proportion of the gastrointestinal (GI), skin, and respiratory tract (RT) infections, which make up the greatest part of the ID [infectious disease] burden.”
Roundtable's Solution
In the past five years, the focus on cleanliness and sanitation has intensified—making proper handwashing more important than ever. But effective training requires more than just instructions; it needs advanced technology to track real hand movements in real time. While hand-tracking in VR has existed for years, it historically struggled with full-contact interactions, like rubbing hands together or interlacing fingers. That’s where Roundtable Learning stepped in.
When we set out to develop this custom VR training, there were virtually no existing content libraries designed for unrestricted, full-contact hand tracking. Standalone VR headsets simply weren’t capable of accurately capturing these natural hand movements—until now. Our team pushed the limits of VR technology to create an immersive training solution that ensures employees learn proper handwashing techniques in a way that sticks. The result? A breakthrough in employee training that meets today’s highest standards for hygiene and safety.
Key Learning Objectives
- Emphasizing the why: Clearly communicate the importance of each step in the handwashing process.
- Multi-sensory reinforcement: Combine audio instruction with guided demonstrations for stronger retention.
- Detail: Ensure learners master the required motions, including rubbing fingertips, washing wrists interlacing fingers, and getting underneath fingernails.
- When to wash hands: Teach when to wash hands such as after touching high-contact areas. after sneezing, and before starting your tasks.
- Kinetic Proof of Learning: For the learner to pass, the training had to require a full physical demonstration of each step.
Comprehensive, Immersive VR Employee Training Programs Using the Very Latest Hand-Tracking Technology
Achieving hospital-grade hand hygiene required strict adherence to key elements: minimal direct contact with surfaces, thorough and vigorous scrubbing, and actively cleansing easily forgotten parts of the hands. The handwashing training follows best practices for the highest level of sanitation. From hospitals down to snack kiosks, every setting had to be maximally effective in their hand washing.
But this training went beyond simple audio instructions, hand tracking, and error recaps. The lessons had fully guided demonstrations in the training modules with translucent floating hands that led users through each step of the procedure.
Efficiency was critical for a company with a six-figure employee headcount. The final solution delivered to our client was training modules with a 10-minute aggregate runtime, ensuring effective, scalable training at an enterprise scale.
Key Features of the VR Training Program
The breakthrough development of full-contact hand tracking helped evaluate the trainees objectively. The process was not unlike punching in the correct digits on a keypad to open a door. Learners had to physically demonstrate each action to move on in the lesson.
Floating buttons, clapping hands, swiping motions made interactions feel natural, requiring zero prior technology experience.
The numerous locations and scenes throughout the lesson pull the user in. Rooms in the hospital hallway even have unique designs and furniture as a small easter egg for the user.
Running time for all the training modules is aggregate 10 minutes, maximizing efficiency and optimizing the most useful way to learn in a headset.
The training covered the highest sanitation standards, from never using bar soap to turning off faucets with a paper towel and avoiding shared towels.
Learners could see the germs wash off their hands and watch the visual transition of unclean hands becoming sanitized, reinforcing proper technique through real-time feedback.
The Results
Measurable Impact Through Innovation
Roundtable Learning’s hand hygiene VR training wasn’t just about pushing the boundaries of immersive technology—it was about solving a critical challenge in a way that traditional training methods couldn’t. By leveraging advanced hand-tracking technology, we created a training solution that ensures employees learn, retain, and consistently apply proper hand hygiene techniques with precision.
Unlike conventional training, which relies on subjective observation, this VR module provides real-time, data-driven insights that track every aspect of a learner’s handwashing technique.
Precise, Real-Time Tracking for Better Outcomes
This training program goes beyond basic instruction—it actively monitors and corrects learner behavior to ensure full compliance with best practices. The system tracks:
- Motion Accuracy – Learners must correctly perform each motion, including scrubbing between fingers, washing the tops of hands, and cleaning thumbs. The system detects and flags missed steps, reinforcing complete hand coverage.
- Completion of Steps – Each phase of the handwashing process is tracked, ensuring learners don’t skip or rush through essential steps. This eliminates inconsistencies in technique.
- Scrubbing Duration – The VR training measures how long learners spend washing each area of their hands, reinforcing the correct duration for effective sanitation.
By capturing this level of detail, the training provides quantifiable proof that learners are not only completing handwashing steps but doing so correctly and thoroughly.
The Impact: Higher Compliance and Stronger Hygiene Standards
The effectiveness of VR-based training has been backed by research, with The International Journal of Environmental Health Research finding that VR-trained learners outperform those trained with conventional face-to-face and UV-light methods. The results from our training program align with these findings, showing:
- Greater consistency across the workforce
- Faster time to proficiency
- Reduced trainer workload
- Lower recleaning costs
Innovation That Drives Real-World Change
This project was never just about creating a VR experience—it was about solving a real challenge with innovative technology. So much so that it won two awards in 2024 from both the Learning and Performance Institute and Brandon Hall Group. By combining cutting-edge hand-tracking, data-driven learning, and immersive engagement, we delivered a solution that is not only effective but scalable across industries where hygiene is critical.
The result? A workforce that confidently meets the highest sanitation standards, supported by a training program that delivers measurable impact. When technology and learning come together seamlessly, the benefits extend far beyond training—they redefine how people work.
Hand Tracking, Handwashing with Roundtable Learning VR Findings Summarized
- The Challenge and Need for VR Handwashing Training: A globally recognized company needed a hospital-grade, company-wide benchmark for employee handwashing training without requiring a trainer’s presence. Roundtable Learning provided a solution to ensure employees could properly demonstrate the full handwashing procedure using immersive VR technology.
- Breakthrough in Hand Tracking Technology: Traditional VR hand tracking had limitations, particularly in tracking hands making contact with each other, such as rubbing and clasping motions. Roundtable Learning’s program overcame these issues by implementing full-contact, natural-movement hand tracking.
- Engaging, Accessible, and Effective Training Design: The custom VR training content featured intuitive navigation, multiple real world training environments, and clear step-by-step visual demonstrations. The program also ensured accessibility by accommodating users of all skill levels and minimizing the need for additional hardware, such as controllers.
- Proven Results and Industry Recognition: The training program successfully met the company’s hygiene and innovation goals, earning awards from the Learning and Performance Institute and Brandon Hall Group in 2024.
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