Impact of simulation fidelity on identifying swing-over hazards in virtual environments for novice crane operators

Crane-related accidents often occur due to failure in timely and accurate hazard identification. Virtual Reality (VR) technology facilitates immersive environments for improving hazard identification without real-world consequences. However, the impact of simulation fidelity on hazard identification performance, particularly for novice crane operators, remains underexplored. This paper examines how simulation fidelity and task complexity affect hazard identification performance among novice operators through a VR experiment with two fidelity and two complexity levels. Findings demonstrate high-fidelity (HF) scenarios significantly improve hazard identification success rate and speed for swing-over hazards but extend task completion times. Task complexity modulates simulation fidelity's impact on task completion, with significant differences between fidelity levels observed only under low complexity. These insights inform the design and calibration of simulation fidelity in VR platforms, potentially improving training efficacy and crane lifting safety for novice operators.