Virtual reality simulates construction hazards for students
The construction industry has one of the highest number of fatalities among all employment sectors in the U.S., according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Traditional safety education methods may not provide students with the hands-on learning necessary to fully understand and internalize safety protocols. As a result, the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, part of the College of Engineering, is addressing this concern and proactively elevating its approach by introducing a new major, demonstrating its commitment to safety and enhancing the Virginia Tech experience while solidifying its position as an industry leader in construction education.
At Virginia Tech, an innovative collaboration between the University Libraries’ Advanced Research in Immersive Environments and Simulations (ARIES) team and Nazila Roofigari-Esfahan, associate professor in the College of Engineering Myers-Lawson School of Construction created a revolutionary approach to construction safety education. Using virtual reality (VR) technology, the team aims to transform how future construction professionals learn about and experience workplace hazards.
Closing a gap in construction safety education
The ARIES team and Roofigari-Esfahan created immersive and interactive virtual reality scenarios that simulate real-world construction environments with various safety hazards based on actual construction work sites. Through these scenarios, students encounter and learn from potentially hazardous situations in a safe and controlled setting.
"The use of group-based VR developed in this research will address the gap in current teaching and learning methods," said Roofigari-Esfahan, associate director of the Center for Innovation in Construction, Safety, Health, and Well-being. "It provides an educational aid that enables interactive engagement and experiential learning for students, taking into account the specific job environments they will be exposed to."
Reimagining construction safety
The virtual reality construction safety project began with conversations between Roofigari-Esfahan, construction safety instructors, and industry professionals. These discussions consistently highlighted a critical need — improving current safety training with experiential learning. This insight led to a series of funded initiatives, culminating in a grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH).
Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology seed funding supported the development of VR scenarios for improving highway construction workers' safety awareness on the job. After successful completion of the project, the team presented the information at Virginia Tech’s Cube and Visionarium to multiple stakeholders including the Myers-Lawson School of Construction’s Industry Advisory Council, the Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology high school summer camp, and construction students.
Based on feedback, the team expanded its work through an Innovation in Learning grant from Technology-Enhanced Learning and Online Strategies to add building construction scenarios to the virtual reality training library. Roofigari-Esfahan plans to use the highway construction and building construction scenarios in her Fall 2024 Construction Safety Systems course, part of the school’s new construction safety leadership major.
A spinoff of the project, funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, creates virtual reality scenarios based on real highway accident reports to better analyze factors impacting highway workers’ situational awareness.
Sarah Tucker, ARIES program coordinator at University Libraries, played a key role in building the virtual world at the Visionarium. It included a model of the newly constructed Hitt Hall on Virginia Tech’s Blacksburg campus with construction safety scenarios. The simulations incorporate specific job environments and student preferences while visually conveying information through creative strategies.
A passion for safety and innovation
For Roofigari-Esfahan, this project is more than an academic endeavor.
"Improving construction worker safety is absolutely critical," said Roofigari-Esfahan. "From an educator’s perspective, enhancing safety education serves as a cornerstone of our mission to protect and empower those on the job. Beyond the ethical imperative of safeguarding lives and preventing injuries, implementing robust educational tools and safety measures equips our students and the future workforce with the knowledge and tools to mitigate risks effectively. Ultimately, my hope is that this approach can instill a proactive safety mindset that ensures every worker returns home safely each day, contributing to a more resilient and productive construction industry.”
Her collaboration with ARIES has been instrumental in bringing this vision to life. "These technologies are available at our fingertips; we need to look at them as supporting tools and not rivals," said Roofigari-Esfahan. "That's why I appreciate my collaboration with the library and ARIES. Todd Ogle and his team are my technology experts that I can rely on. They always help me make what may start as a crazy idea into a reality!"
“We want faculty to know that ARIES can help them create immersive experiences and simulations for educational training and research purposes too,” said Tucker.
The future is now
By harnessing virtual reality's potential, Virginia Tech is effectively teaching safety, reshaping the future of construction education, and creating an immersive experience that could save lives and transform industries.
"Sky's the limit if we think outside of the box and have like-minded people around us,” said Roofigari-Esfahan.
