Virtual reality will help employees train for every situation
WEST LAFAYETTE—While virtual reality is largely used for entertainment, NiSource sees real potential in harnessing it for training.
The utility recently granted $100,000 to Purdue University to jump-start the development of VR-based training programs. Under the grant, Purdue will develop training simulations that cover natural gas emergencies, work zone safety and arc-flash prevention, helping to prepare employees and first responders for any high-impact situation they might face.
Dave Monte, NiSource senior vice president of safety, environmental, engineering and training, told American Gas, “Some of our trainers had experience in VR. A lot of companies are starting to use VR and augmented reality for training purposes, and they believed there were applications for our work. We already had a relationship with Purdue, so it was a natural fit to leverage their expertise with our needs.
“We looked into the training and operational challenges we had and picked areas that VR specifically serves well, like emergency response to a gas leak. Situations like that require so many situational judgments by employees. VR allows us to replicate and reproduce the experience of that dangerous environment without danger to the employee.”
“This will be supplemental training,” added Jacqui Lange, field safety technologies director. He told American Gas, “We have ‘safety towns,’ where we have small physical buildings in mock neighborhoods where our employees can train and interact with customers, physically touch different appliances and work through a variety of different scenarios. What was missing, though, were the more risky types of situations. VR will be an enhancement to our other training efforts.”
Purdue is creating multiple ways to deliver the training, although it will not all be VR-specific. “There will be a PC version, a mobile/cellphone version and then a VR version that will require VR headsets,” Lange said. “We’ll have those headsets available in our training centers.”
VR prototypes will continue to be tested and evaluated through 2018. In 2019, the software is expected to become part of NiSource’s training program.
Eventually, other gas companies may be able to benefit as well. “There will be specifics that tie directly to our gas standards,” Lange said, “but I think it definitely could be utilized by other gas utilities.”
As VR continues to make inroads in entertainment and especially video games, it might prove to be a particularly relevant training method for new hires. “It’s a serious thing, so we wouldn’t present it as a game,” Monte said. “But you get to run multiple scenarios and fail without consequence, just like in a video game. That’s the benefit of this approach.”