Role playing in PRL training with virtual reality - Ludus

The role playing method is applied today in many areas, such as occupational risk prevention (ORP) training. With this technique, trainees act out different situations, putting new knowledge into practice. Technologies such as virtual reality offer multiple options for role-playing, thanks to their recreation of realistic scenarios. It is interesting for trainers to explore the path of role playing in PRL training with virtual reality.

What is role playing?

Role playing works in a similar way to improvisational theater. The trainer poses a realistic situation based on the knowledge he wants to work on, and assigns roles to the trained workers. They must play their role, interacting and trying to apply the knowledge acquired in the training.

The role-playing technique allows the PRL trainer to evaluate the degree of assimilation and application of concepts. Thanks to role playing, the technician can observe how employees behave when applying health and safety protocols.

The workers, for their part, experience a dynamic training session and fictitiously immerse themselves in a realistic situation. This encourages communication and helps to train processes such as decision-making or adaptation to different scenarios.

Benefits of role playing in training

The advantages of applying this method in preventive training are several:

• Active learning: workers feel part of the training, making decisions and practicing what they learn.

• It involves employees in the learning process. In addition to applying their knowledge, they have the opportunity to give feedback and discuss its effectiveness.

• Integrates theoretical knowledge into practical and dynamic training, which helps to assimilate and retain it.

• Increased motivation and interest.

New technologies: role playing in ORP training with virtual reality

New technologies such as virtual reality have reached the field of occupational risk prevention. According to companies such as Quirón Prevención, this tool enhances learning, because it makes it possible to understand "complex and abstract concepts by learning through experience".

Virtual reality recreates realistic environments thanks to immersive simulations. In terms of health and safety, this allows employees to face risky situations without putting themselves in danger. In addition, trainers can reproduce scenarios that in real life would be expensive or dangerous, such as a fire or a fall from a great height.

Virtual reality simulations have great potential when it comes to applying role playing. They give trainers the opportunity to immerse employees in a first-person experience and confront them with realistic situations. Employees can play their role, make decisions, interact or even suffer virtual accidents.

Ludus has an extensive catalog of simulations with an ORP theme, which is constantly being updated with new content. It is a tool available to trainers, which allows them to complement their training and convey their message using a new channel.

Using this technology, the trainer could do a role playing pretending to be a new operator, for example. In this way, he can ask the workers to guide him in doing a certain procedure, as if they were his new colleagues. The employees would participate in the role playing by playing their role, giving advice and answering the trainer' s questions.

Examples of role playing in ORP training with virtual reality

Several of Ludus' virtual reality simulations include elements that favor role playing in training. Here are some examples:

• CPR: in the CPR simulation, the trainer has the possibility to introduce external stimuli such as people disturbing the worker. This gives the possibility to interact and learn how to react in a stressful situation.

In addition, one of the steps to be performed in this simulation is the emergency call. When the phone starts ringing, the trainer can pretend to be a telemarketer and the trainee will play his role, improvising. He can ask about the location (the simulation has scenarios such as an airport or a store), what has happened, the number of victims....

You can also tell a previous story or pose the fictitious situation in which the emergency occurs. An example would be to tell the story of how the student was returning from a trip with a friend. Suddenly, his friend collapses at gate 1 of the airport terminal, and the student must decide how to act.

• Confined spaces: this simulation offers two interesting options for role playing. In the first, when the trainee supervises the entry of a virtual worker into a confined space, he must contact him by walkie. The person taking the training can then pretend that he is really communicating, while the PRL trainer pretends to be his interlocutor.

The second option is when it is the worker himself who must enter a confined space. Once inside, if he does not move for a few seconds, he will be asked over the walkie if he is all right. In this case, he must use the walkie and answer, giving rise to a new role playing.

• Risk prevention in the plant: in this exercise, the employee will receive orders through the walkie about the different tasks to be performed. Again, this allows the PRL trainer to initiate a role playing with the employee.

The effectiveness of VR in training

Techniques such as role playing or gamification are aids to increase employee motivation in PRL training. This will favor greater retention, which translates into more effective self-protection and protecting workers' lives.

According to a study by PWC, those who train with virtual reality learn up to four times faster than in a conventional classroom.

If you want to know how Ludus virtual reality can support your health and safety training, fill in your details in this link.