International conference on construction engineering and project management (국제학술발표논문집)

  • 2024.07a
  • /
  • Pages.509-515
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  • 2024
  • /
  • 2508-9048(eISSN)
Korea Institute of Construction Engineering and Management (한국건설관리학회)
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Impact of Repeated Virtual Reality Safety training on the Construction Worker Risk Habituation

  • Muhammad UMAIR (Department of Building and Real Estate, Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) ;
  • JoonOh SEO (Department of Building and Real Estate, Faculty of Construction and Environment, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University) ;
  • Choongwan Koo (Division of Architecture and Urban Design, Incheon National University)
  • Published : 2024.07.29
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Abstract

Construction is considered one of the most hazardous industries because of fatalities on site due to workers' unsafe behaviour. Occupational Health and Safety Practitioners are providing safety training through modern technologies like immersive and non-immersive Virtual Reality (VR). Workers are repeatedly exposed to construction hazards and thus become accustomed to underlying hazards. Providing simulated accidents in VR safety training aims to minimize worker risk habituation but repeated exposure to accidents can affect risk habituation toward the underlying construction risk. To this end, this study proposes a simulated accident VR safety training environment that exposes workers to repeated construction hazards and simulates a fall accident when workers don't follow the safety procedure. Longitudinal experiments were conducted, and participants' risk perception was measured using questionnaires. The results revealed that simulated accident safety training has potential effects on construction workers. The outcomes of this study lay the foundation for further studies to employ a VR safety training environment that enables workers to experience simulated accidents. This contributes to the development of an improved VR safety training design, taking into account the appropriate interval at which it should be provided. Such an approach can help workers become more sensitized to construction risks.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This research study was supported by the LTC Projects - Strategic Plan Initiatives (Use of Interactive Pedagogies) (SPF21-22/A3/BRE02) from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

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