Feng, Z; Lovreglio, R; Yiu, T W; Acosta, D M; Sun, B and Li, N (2024) Immersive virtual reality training for excavation safety and hazard identification. Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, 13(4), pp. 883-907. ISSN 2046-6099
Abstract
Purpose: In the construction sector, site excavation is one of the most dangerous and challenging activities. Proper training can be an effective way to mitigate excavation hazards. Virtual reality (VR) has been used as an effective training tool to enhance safety performance in various industries. However, little attention has been paid to the potential of this technology for construction excavation safety training. Design/methodology/approach: This study proposes an immersive VR training system for excavation safety and hazard identification. The proposed VR training system was compared with a health and safety manual via a controlled experiment. Findings: Results based on scores obtained immediately after training indicate that VR training significantly enhanced practical performance, knowledge acquisition and self-efficacy. Results also show that knowledge was retained four weeks after training. In addition, VR training outperformed health and safety manuals regarding knowledge retention. Originality/value: This study measures the practical performance to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed VR training system. Also, this study compares the VR training system with a traditional training method by measuring knowledge acquisition and retention. The results demonstrate the potential of VR as a training tool for excavation safety and hazards.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | construction safety; excavation hazards; excavation safety; hazard identification; practical performance; safety training |
| Index terms: | retention, hazard identification, knowledge acquisition, effectiveness, virtual reality, self-efficacy, safety training, health and safety, experiment, excavation, methodology, safety performance, construction sector, construction safety |
| Subjects: | occupational health and safety management, industry analysis, student development, environmental health, management, research methods, performance management, health safety and environment, financial risk, construction operations, data collection methods, virtual reality, human factors and perception |
| Topics: | Human Resources, Quality Management, Digital Applications, Site Management, Education, Research Practice, Cost Management, Health and Safety, Sustainability |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTE |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here