Bechtel Implements Virtual Reality Safety Training for Construction Workers

In an effort to further construction workforce education and better prepare workers for dangerous jobsite locations, construction firm Bechtel has partnered with construction safety technology company, Human Condition Safety (HCS), to take advantage of its latest virtual reality safety training, SafeScan. Strictly using virtual reality (VR) immersion tech to train and teach workers how to handle themselves within various different terrains and situations that so often pose a risk to their well-being, HCS chief executive officer, Peter E. Raymond, elaborated on the “groundbreaking” virtual reality safety training with this,

“Workers will train wearing VR headsets in a simulation of dangerous task procedures, allowing trainees to repeatedly practice risky work situations in the safety of a classroom. It’s been proven that people learn best by doing. We also know that today, equipment, machines, and infrastructure are connected to the internet and can communicate and adapt in real time without much human intervention. The SafeScan platform leverages both of those realities.”

HCS says a worker at Bechtel could utilize their SafeScan virtual reality safety training in a myriad of ways to do just that. For example, a worker at the construction company could virtually practice unloading a beam from a crane 20 stories in the air on a foggy morning as opposed to doing it for the first time in a real-life setting, where much more would be on the line. HCS’s virtual reality training provides what the company calls a “hyper realistic” environment to help workers get an appropriate feel for what they would face on the job.

Over time, HCS says that as the entire workforce continues with SafeScan virtual reality safety training, usage data is aggregated and blended with geographic information system data (GIS), safety history, factors such as vibration analyses, and regulatory requirements from agencies like OSHA, tying directly back into what Raymond said of the training leveraging both the elements of the construction environment and technology. (Prnewswire.com)

By blending the continuous incoming stream of usage data with analytics, HCS can eventually fully automate risk mitigation. With the aid of a predictive engine that has the ability to pinpoint and isolate certain elements that, when combined, could create the most dangerous circumstances of a particular job, alerts can be sent out to avoid injuries, improve safety, and eliminate fatalities.

As the very first to use HCS’s SafeScan virtual reality safety training, Bechtel is taking a big leap forward in technology innovation for the company and setting a bar that will most likely become standard for other construction companies to follow. Technology is no longer an option for many construction companies but a requirement, and having a name as big as Bechtel take the VR initiative can certainly be interpreted as a sign of the changing times.

Bechtel plans to start the virtual reality safety training at their Bechtel Innovation Center in Houston, Texas. And it’s not for the faint of heart, either. As CTO of HCS, Chris Bunk, put it,

“The virtual environment we’ve created is so realistic that beta testers are trembling or fearful of taking the first step onto the high steel as they perform a basic operation, for example connecting I-beams 20 stories up on a construction site.”

But, unlike real-life, workers using the VR tech will have opportunity after opportunity to fail, start over, and repeat until they perform the task correctly and safely, proving the value in VR training while providing the nuance and hands-on training so many construction workers desperately need before going live.