Occupational safety training (HSE) is essential to prevent accidents and should be conducted periodically to keep employees trained and aware. Technologies such as virtual reality (VR) offer a simple way to provide continuous and refresher safety training.
Why is Periodic Safety Training Necessary
The Legal Imperative of Providing Continuous and Adequate Satety Training
Safety and health training is a legal obligation for companies. This training must be provided both at the time of hiring and whenever there are changes in working conditions or equipment. In fact, without HSE training, the company will always be responsible for any workplace accident.
Official regulations, such as the Spanish Occupational Risk Prevention Law, also highlight the need to periodically repeat HSE training. Among other things, these trainings adapt to the evolution of risks and the emergence of new ones.
Periodic Training to Maintain Retention and Prevent Human Error
Various studies by health researchers indicate that knowledge retention in subjects like cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) begins to decline after a few months. According to these studies, retention is reinforced through refresher training every 2-3 months.
Conducting periodic HSE refresher training helps keep employees trained and alert, avoiding human errors due to complacency. In fact, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), human error is behind 80% to 90% of workplace accidents.
The problem with conducting HSE refresher training is the cost and difficulty of organizing them periodically. Stopping processes and machines, organizing groups of employees and trainers to conduct these trainings... However, technologies like virtual reality offer a new way to conduct HSE refresher training simply.
Virtual Reality in Refresher Preventive Training
Virtual reality (VR) recreates realistic situations and scenarios in simulations, where the user engages and interacts first-hand. In a PRL training with virtual reality, the employee faces the risks of their job and learns to prevent accidents without real danger.
Firefighting, construction safety, working at heights, electrical hazards... VR allows all types of training to be conducted realistically and dynamically. It also provides an effective way to conduct periodic refresher training.
The Ludus VR platform includes multiple simulations for HSE training and features a guided individual training mode. This allows employees to conduct their refresher training autonomously and individually, practicing their prevention knowledge.
After receiving group HSE training with the platform, employees can refresh their training periodically with the individual mode. This means there is no need to stop processes or machinery to conduct refresher training. Workers pass through the simulation one by one, according to their work schedule.
The guided mode of Ludus simulations allows the worker to follow safety protocols and check their errors. It only requires a room with VR equipment installed, so employees can conduct their autonomous refresher training.
Other benefits of VR in Preventive Training
Virtual reality helps train the worker's decision-making process, ensuring they adequately protect themselves and detect risks in simulations. They can also make mistakes, such as not wearing proper protective equipment, and experience virtual accidents like electrocutions, burns, amputations...
This ability to realistically and first-hand experience the consequences of errors enhances worker awareness. This translates into employees being more involved in prevention and more aware of dangers.
Raising worker awareness about the importance of prevention and showing them how carelessness leads to accidents helps prevent complacency. In other words, boosting motivation and awareness in HSE training helps avoid human errors.
Another advantage of VR is the ability to demonstrate that adequate and standards-based HSE training has been provided. This is possible thanks to the statistics collected by the Ludus platform, such as hours of use or exercises passed and failed.
There are other benefits for companies using Ludus virtual reality in their risk prevention training. Standardized PRL training across different locations or countries, cost savings on travel or rental of facilities and equipment... Discover these and other advantages at the following link.
