Fall protection training is critical to the safety of workers who perform jobs at height...
Fall protection training is critical to the safety of workers who perform jobs at height, and the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) is making it safer and easier for them to learn best practices through a virtual reality (VR) application. The new ASSP VR Fall Protection Experience enables workers to train in settings that mirror actual environments without the dangers that come with high-risk tasks. In the United States, fall protection is the most frequently cited safety violation, and falls accounted for 38 per cent of all construction deaths in 2016.
“Virtual reality is an innovative tool that enables a worker to be trained and evaluated without ever putting that employee in a precarious position,” said Keisha Raines, manager of online learning at ASSP in Park Ridge, Ill. “Studies have shown that the closer you can replicate reality in your training environment, the more the training experience will stick.”
The benefits of virtual reality training include realistic exercises when hands-on experiences aren’t feasible; reduced cost of training workforces of any size; and consistent training for each worker regardless of the location or trainer, said ASSP.
