ITcon Vol. 19, pg. 326-335, http://www.itcon.org/2014/19

Construction health and safety training: the utilisation of 4D enabled serious games

submitted:December 2013
revised:April 2014
published:September 2014
editor(s):Wang X., Li H., Wong J. and Li H.
authors:Nashwan Dawood, Professor,
Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK;
n.n.dawood@tees.ac.uk

Geoff Miller, PhD Student,
Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK;
g.miller@tees.ac.uk

João Patacas, PhD Student,
Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK;
j.patacas@tees.ac.uk

Mohamad Kassem, Associate Professor,
Technology Futures Institute, Teesside University, Middlesbrough, TS1 3BA, UK;
m.kassem@tees.ac.uk
summary:Health and safety (H&S) is a major concern in the construction industry. Recent and historical data from the construction industry worldwide demonstrate that the human, social, and economic burden, inflicted as a result of H&S-related fatalities, is still significant. Training is a key strategy to reduce H&S risks. The investigation of serious games for H&S training in construction as complementary to traditional training methods has attracted significant interest in recent years. Current studies in this area have mainly focussed on scenario-led training where trainees interact with the same environment through pre-defined options in discrete game sections. This approach has limitations in terms of variety and amount of skills that trainees can learn. In this paper, the proposed approach is to enable a sandbox style serious game through the encapsulation of 4D (3D + time) concept in the game design with the hypothesis that this approach would influence the capability of trainee to spot safety hazards and the way they interact with the game. Such a serious game was developed for a real-world project which was modelled at three different as a replica of the planned schedule. The testing of the environment with 12 students demonstrated that combining serious games and 4D approaches can improve users’ engagement and affect their abilities to spot H&S hazards.
keywords:4D modelling, H&S training, OpenSim, Serious games
full text: (PDF file, 0.51 MB)
citation:Dawood N, Miller G, Patacas J, Kassem M (2014). Construction health and safety training: the utilisation of 4D enabled serious games, ITcon Vol. 19, Special issue BIM Cloud-Based Technology in the AEC Sector: Present Status and Future Trends, pg. 326-335, https://www.itcon.org/2014/19