Modularized Automation of Creating VR Hazard Identification Training System for Soil and Water Conservation Projects

Traditional construction site safety training focuses on lecturing safety regulations and sharing construction site accidents in order to improve trainees' familiarity of safety regulations and safety awareness. Due to the nature of constant changes in the working environment and location on the construction sites for soil and water conservation projects, many accidents still occur because potential hazards are not identified and corrected before and during the construction progress. If the workers are able to constantly identify and correct those potential hazards, the probability of accidents may be reduced. This research uses Unity 3D to automate the creation of a VR training system based the scene modules selected by safety and health management personnel, who is unfamiliar with computer programming. The scene modules are composed of basic scenes and hazard scenes. Each of scenes is further composed of packages of environments, construction elements, and safety gears. Each environment is an assembly of site terrain, background, workers, equipment, and materials. Through recombination of different modules based on the desired training of targeted construction types, the system allows the administrator to create a variety of VR spaces without the cost of redeveloping an entire new VR content. This approach is expected to be suitable for soil and water conservation projects, which are usually with comparatively low budget. © 2021, Chinese Institute of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering. All right reserved.