Preparing for Dangerous Tasks Includes Risks, Complexities and Regulations, but Easier Workplace Safety Is Possible
Naturally, no one really wants to be in a dangerous situation–at work or otherwise. But with preparation, including training experience, this inevitability ends with a better outcome. Yet realistic simulations of risk and even potential injuries are hard to create without actual danger. It’s a tough goal to get learners thinking, “this is not a drill!” when it is.
Safety training, hazard recognition, workplace incidents response and other preparations? These are essential. However, L&D people and safety coordinators face a number of perennial safety training hassles.
Safe Environment Training Programs: Ongoing Hassles
- Time constraints
- Knowledge retention/seeing the safety training practiced
- Negotiating the maze of various regulations and compliances
Even if there is enough time, even if there are ideas about knowledge retention, and even if you have an SME on the necessary regulations, there’s more. Well-produced controlled environment training needs customized solutions; you need a skilled learning specialist and an experienced content creator. Plus, the medium for training needs to leave a deep impression. The medium has to powerfully convey the stakes of high-risk workplace situations.
Convincing Immersive Training for Hazardous Situations and Workplace Safety Is Possible
And It’s Possible without Danger or Massive Time Investment
What if the following were possible: quality training programs that mimic real world risks and lead to a better understanding of safety within the learner’s specific industry? What if safety training for employees, without actual physical hazards, were possible?
What if different industries had safety training that comprehensively accounted for both safety and the bottom line? Enterprising workplaces are using traditional training methods, but increasingly, they’re using VR safety training and a variety of immersive experiences to deliver results for safety. The stark results of workplace errors can actually be communicated forcefully with zero injuries, no broken machines and no lost product.
By plunging a learner into full-sensory engagement of risky scenarios, you can get them ready for the real thing. By teaming up with experienced problem-solvers and training experts, lost time can go down, and employee’s well being can go up. You can utilize VR training from a strategic firm with in-house learning experts and an enormous network of SMEs. You can get training from a firm that knows the complex and manifold regulations of complex and manifold industries–like rail, which has thousands upon thousands of documents in required protocol.
And you can do so with virtual reality safety training which is unrivaled in creating employee engagement.
→ 🏥 Engagement in Training: a 3-year, 150-participant crossover study of hospital cardiac lab workers showed that VR safety training not only outperformed pure-analog teaching, but also noticeably increased learner engagement, with noted procedural knowledge improvement. (Journal of Vascular Surgery)
Many companies and organizations in major verticals are getting into VR safety training. Here are a few of them (and a little bit of us at Roundtable).
Developments and Current Users of VR Safety Training
Virtual Reality Training Is Older than We Think
The first wearable display was created in 1968, and VR training has long been used for workplace safety preparations (among other uses). The first practical uses of VR were mid-20th-century flight training simulation programs for pilots.
But it’s picking up fast. Extended reality and VR, in particular, are becoming more normative in workplace training. That’s especially true where that workplace has potential safety hazards. VR safety training gives the opportunity to present extremely realistic simulations of dangerous situations minus nearly all the actual danger while increasing safety and decreasing associated costs.
Here are some of the many ways VR training courses are being used for safety.
Safety and VR Training for Truck Driving
VR safety training is used for a variety of automotive navigation skills, including F1 racecar drivers. It looks like it’s catching on for larger vehicles, too. For example, this YouTube video of a full-scale VR big-rig has 60 million views!
Driving Cargo Trucks and Making Deliveries in Canada: But almost equally high-stakes are cargo truck drivers navigating city streets. And Roundtable created a full-scale driving simulator for delivery cargo trucks. With an immersive VR headset (or optional monitor screen), desk-mounted steering wheel and kinetic-responsive pedals, it delivers. The drivers get significantly more time “behind the wheel” to master safety skills before they get behind the wheel.
Electrical Safety and VR with Literal Hands on Practice
VR training for safety shows up throughout technology and related workplaces, like working with electricity. Electrical safety is the highest of high-stakes, and one relatively early adopter was Intel. They were prompted to take a look after seeing two dozen hazardous electrical incidents in just two years.
Looking at just the cost, these occurrences stacked up to a calculated $1 million loss. They went in on a comprehensive VR technology solution to recertify electricians. After some tweaks and a lot of hard work, they saw serious results and signed off on plans for a much wider rollout of this training in their facilities.
Another example was an experimental study published in The Journal of Safety Research. It showed promise as well. Specifically, it showed that virtual reality is an effective low-voltage electrical safety training method, with high trainee engagement and substantial net knowledge retention after four weeks.
Electrical Hazards for a Different Type of Work from Home: One of the hazards of being an in-home service technician is electrical safety. Roundtable developed a program for these workers.
Besides walking through an unfinished attic or handling a large house dog, there’s the hazard of getting a sharp sting from a live electrical outlet. The company that hired Roundtable wanted their technicians to get a stark reminder to take appropriate precautions: the headset VR content setup included a haptic glove that vibrated vigorously if the worker didn’t check home outlets for live voltage. Feedback noted that even seasoned vets would sometimes forget this essential task, but probably not anymore.
Forklift Safety Training in VR
According to a widely-cited OSHA statistic, quality training and policy enforcement could have prevented 70% of recent forklift incidents in the U.S.
The tight spaces and blind corners around massive shelves have a lot of potential for danger making forklift operator prep through virtual reality training ideal.
In this instance, Roundtable Learning is an early developer in the field. We’ve just launched our PIT Trainer XR (Powered Industrial Truck) Trainer (using eXtended Reality). Tested by over 900 operators pre-launch, PIT Trainer XR has already delivered measurable results:
Pre-Launch User Results for PIT Trainer XR
- 41.6% reduction in evaluation time
- 25% drop in recorded safety incidents
- 42% less time spent on retraining
You can also read more about it on our PIT Trainer XR service page and PIT XR exploratory page.
Mechanical and Manufacturing Safety Training in VR
Medicine is a discipline of precision. That’s true even for the manufacturing side of it, such as with medical devices. West Pharma needed to improve the quality of its manufacturing of items like surgical pliers and container closures. They developed an arsenal of technology to optimize their training for using these machines. Included in them was an immersive solution utilizing VR.
Training on Actual Trains, Including Lockout Tagout: BNSF is a legacy rail titan that runs from Canada down into Mexico. They needed VR safety training that–in addition to helping teach mechanics how to calibrate and replace components–ensured rigid adherence to lockout tagout (LOTO).
The LOTO practice disengages moving parts of the engine–sometimes with an actual cylinder lock–to ensure it doesn’t accidentally restart. That’s an essential measure as working on these beasts isn’t the same–safety-wise–as changing one’s oil in their home garage. These engines usually require a ladder (and sometimes a crane) to work on, and they weigh almost a half-million pounds. Roundtable Learning was ready to design a custom VR training program that included lockout tagout. We were also featured in Business Wire and Yahoo Finance for this training solution for BNSF.
Roundtable Learning Knows Workplace Safety Needs Differ by Industry and by Scale (and We’ve Done them All)
Roundtable Learning is a full-stack strategic problem-solver and workplace training creator. We’ve created highly engaging safety programs using traditional training methods while specializing in the safe, zero-contact virtual environment. Our catalog spans extended reality, including mixed reality, augmented reality, and stand-alone headset VR safety training.
We’ve engineered safety training for situations with big things, like cargo trucks, and small things, like germs: our step-by-step VR handwashing tutorial for food handlers won the training consortium Brandon Hall’s gold medal for Best Advance in Augmented and Virtual Reality for 2024. We’ve partnered with companies to show safe welding, safe forklift operation, safe lifting practices and more. We’ll help you create the thorough, engaging, results-driven safety training you need.
Roundtable’s VR Safety Training: Low Risk and More Performance Data and You’ll Save Time
Benefits of the Immersive Learning Experience for Workplace Safety
Time Saved (and money) – Lost time gets recovered; fewer compliance fixes or responses, less employee travel to training locations, less machine down-time
Higher Overall Workplace Safety Score – Every high-risk workplace has some tasks that can be transmitted to virtual reality safety training; that transmission equates to fewer incidents for all operations for the company as a whole
Data-Rich, Automatic Feedback about Performance – Roundtable Learning’s flagship software is Mercury XRS. It tracks, measures, records, evaluates and indexes each learner’s attainment. You’ll see detail-rich performance metrics on a variety of selected tasks.
How It Works
1. Discovery
Identify Training Needs and Possible Solutions
The first step in the training process is a discovery session with a client specialist. We’ll conduct a needs analysis and discuss your specific training challenges. By closely reviewing existing practices and workflows, the client specialist helps pinpoint where Roundtable’s skills and training opportunities meet. Once the challenges are identified, the specialist presents a set of targeted training options that can address those needs directly.
2. Co‑Strategizing and Creating
Collaborative Planning and Comprehensive Development
The collaboration and communication-heavy process begins. It’s vital to ensure input from all stakeholders. Our expert learning specialists and content developers assist in steering the development with our client. Co-navigation with the client is important. It means details line up with the overall goal: in this case, training solutions that can measurably improve safety.
3. Delivery
Handing You the Customized Training Program
Once the training materials and strategy are done, we can help with the rollout. The transition includes clear instructions on how to deploy the training and apply it within day-to-day operations. Ongoing assistance is available beyond launch to ensure full adoption and usage of your products, strategy, solutions, materials and answers.
4. Repeat
Your Next Strategy or Training Requirements
Household names in the Fortune 10 have become repeat clients for Roundtable, and we hope to add you to that list.
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Key Features of VR Safety Training
Immersive Simulation
- Fully immersive 3D environments that mimic real-world job sites
- Supports experiential learning by enabling realistic practice scenarios
Multi-Sensory Interaction
- Incorporates haptic feedback devices (e.g., HaptX Gloves) for tactile realism
- Includes spatial audio and voice cues for auditory guidance
- Enables visual effects and personalized 3D models
Body Ergonomic Tracking
- Captures and analyzes body movements to ensure safe posture and physical techniques
- Provides corrective prompts for improper body mechanics
Session Playback Functionality
- Replays full training sessions for performance review
- Enables instructors to detect repeated mistakes or improvement patterns
- Ts
Action-Based Interactions
- Encourages physical performance of tasks, such as lifting, signaling, stacking
- Allows unlimited repetition of tasks until performed correctly
Real-Time Feedback Mechanisms
- Delivers immediate instructional feedback based on learner behavior
- Corrects errors as they happen, within the simulation
Learner Performance Analytics
- Collects performance data including error rates, decision accuracy, and reaction time
- Integrates with dashboards like Mercury XRS for centralized review
Safety Compliance Protocols
- Simulates procedures like lock-out/tag-out (LOTO)
- Reinforces adherence to environmental safety regulations
Task-Specific Realism
- Recreates micro-tasks (e.g., shelf placement, cable installation, fire extinguisher operation)
- Applies physics-based modeling for realistic object handling
Safety Hazard Simulations
- Replicates hazards like chemical spills, electrical shorts, or fire cues
- Includes temperature-based haptic feedback for advanced realism
Scenario Branching Logic
- Allows multiple decision paths with outcome variation based on learner choice
- Reinforces procedural decision-making skills
Progress Benchmarking and Trend Analysis
- Tracks historical performance trends across learners or departments
- Provides longitudinal data to evaluate learning impact
Data-Driven Learning Optimization
- Uses training outcomes to redesign underperforming modules
- Implements adaptive training logic based on learner results
KEY TAKEAWAYS
VR Safety Training: Immersive Learning for High-Risk Environments
Overview
Virtual Reality (VR) safety training enables workforce preparation in high-risk industries without exposing learners to actual danger. This content outlines how VR is used to simulate hazardous environments, improve safety outcomes, reduce costs, and streamline training delivery.
Key Use Cases by Industry
In-Home Electrical Safety
- VR modules simulate risks from live outlets and attic hazards.
- Use of haptic gloves delivers physical feedback to reinforce safety steps.
Truck Driving and Delivery
- Simulated cab setup with kinetic pedals and steering systems.
- Increased time “behind the wheel” without vehicle access.
Manufacturing and Mechanical Safety
- Medical device training through VR improves process precision.
- Lockout/Tagout (LOTO) procedures embedded into virtual rail engine maintenance.
Forklift and PIT Operation
- PIT Trainer XR used to train over 900 forklift operators.
- Resulted in 41.6% faster evaluations, 25% fewer safety incidents, and 42% less retraining time.
Engagement and Effectiveness
- VR enables full-sensory immersion in simulated danger scenarios.
- In a 3-year study, hospital staff using VR safety training showed increased engagement and improved procedural knowledge.
- Learners respond to realistic cues like haptic vibration and visual alerts.
Program Development Workflow
1. Discovery
- Needs analysis with client stakeholders to define safety challenges.
- Training strategy options aligned to specific workflows.
2. Co‑Strategizing and Creating
- Collaborative development process with Roundtable’s instructional designers.
- Emphasis on compliance integration and industry-specific standards.
3. Delivery
- Onboarding assistance with deployment guidance.
- Ongoing support ensures adoption and integration.
4. Repeat
- Clients return for further initiatives after initial success.
Core Features of VR Safety Training
Immersive Simulation
- 3D environments mirror actual job sites.
- Supports experiential task rehearsal without exposure to harm.
Multi-Sensory Interaction
- Incorporates haptic gloves, spatial audio, and visual cues.
- Learners experience tactile realism and directional sound.
Real-Time Feedback
- In-simulation error correction.
- Guidance delivered immediately based on learner behavior.
Learner Performance Analytics
- Tracks performance data: accuracy, errors, response time.
- Feeds into platforms like Mercury XRS.
Compliance Protocol Simulation
- Includes procedures like Lockout/Tagout.
- Reinforces regulatory training needs.
Task-Specific Modeling
- Replicates micro-tasks with physics accuracy.
- Includes equipment handling, tool usage, and emergency actions.
Safety Hazard Scenarios
- Simulates fire cues, spills, electrical shorts.
- Feedback includes thermal response via haptics.
Scenario Branching
- Decision trees with multiple outcomes.
- Helps learners practice procedural responses.
Playback and Benchmarking
- Training sessions can be reviewed for coaching.
- Long-term data used to optimize curriculum and detect trends.
Summary
VR safety training transforms high-risk workplace preparation into a scalable, data-rich, and low-risk learning experience. Roundtable Learning supports full-stack deployment from discovery through strategy and rollout, with modular training options for industries from rail to logistics to electrical maintenance
