Designing first-person 3D simulation training for construction occupational health hazards

The level of awareness of occupational health hazards (OHH) in construction falls below that of occupational safety. This raises concern over the effectiveness of OHH interventions, specifically the quality of training provided to construction workers. Continuous exposure of workers to OHH has long-term implications on construction workers’ wellbeing as these are not easily detected. The aim of this paper is to explore the development of OHH training interventions. This study develops a prototype 3D simulation training to accentuate the consequences of workers’ exposure to construction OHH and how to mitigate such OHH with the right training. The core gameplay adopts the loop - Notice, Analyse, Diagnose and Act (NADA) framework for testing the knowledge of the player. The design of the game is built on four core pillars: to test the knowledge of the players by demonstrating their understanding of OHH to progress within the game; to adopt the immersive diegetic interface so that all interactions take place via in-world tools (e.g. tablet); the game will be modular and scalable to enable new OHH to be incorporated without bespoke code; engaged gamification through experience progression, ranks, performance feedback and game replay. The implication of this game is to have a positive preventive effect that could complement traditional occupational health training programs. The new knowledge gained from playing this game will be useful for training providers and contractors towards developing targeted strategies to increase the awareness of OHH and knowledge amongst construction workers whilst improving the effectiveness of OHH training.