Teaching construction hazard recognition through high fidelity augmented reality

The ability of designers, managers, and workers to identify construction hazards is a fundamental skill that promotes construction safety in practices. Traditionally, construction management programs focus on teaching this topic using the fundamentals of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the associated regulations and delivering this material with traditional lecture-based approaches. This study introduces a new method of hazard recognition pedagogy aimed at rapidly improving signal detection and situational awareness. Specifically, a highfidelity augmented reality software tool built around energy-based cognitive mnemonics (SAVES) that immerses students in a representative environment was created and experimentally tested with a large class. In a series of pre-tests, construction engineering and management students were provided with randomly-selected sets of photographs of construction worksites and were asked to identify the hazards present. In a one-month randomly staged series, students were exposed to SAVES. In SAVES students were asked to identify hazards and the system provided real-time assessment of their performance and feedback for improvement of future iterations. Following this experience, a second series of post-tests was administered. The impact of the augmented reality experience was empirically measured using multiple baseline testing and inferential statistics. The results indicate that students’ and workers’ abilities to recognize hazards increased, on average, by 21 percent and 26 percent, respectively (p<0.001). Qualitative feedback indicates that the approach enhanced intellectual excitement and retention. Introduction The aim of Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) education is to equip students with the state of art skills-sets that can empower them to evaluate and respond to critical needs in the construction industry. This is especially challenging given the complex nature of the industry 1 and the accelerated rate at which new knowledge is generated . The role of educators is to facilitate this process and to prepare current students to attain future professional success. Unfortunately, employers have often expressed dissatisfaction with the skill levels of new graduates. In another study by Martin et al. (2005), results indicated that recent graduates were unprepared for practical aspects of their job. Accordingly, engineering graduates may have a good grasp on engineering fundamentals, but they often lack necessary skills in practical situations . More recently, a leading construction educationalist and established researcher was quoted to have said: “we teach too much and our students learn too little” . As a result, institutional educators and instructors are exploring new innovative ways to engage student through active learning processes 8-10 and methods to enhance knowledge retention . Construction literature suggests a few solutions that instructors can use to ensure that students acquire skill-sets that are required for professional success. Russell et al. (2007) suggests that instructors need to provide students with field visit opportunities and use real construction environments to provide context-driven education. He further argues that such opportunities would provide students with better prospects to interact with professional engineers and managers on real construction projects that are dealing with real-life challenges. Another solution that is suggested in literature is to establish collaborative partnerships between P ge 23139.2 educational institutes and local construction companies. Although such methods are valuable, they often are not practical because (1) instructors may not gain access to construction projects on a regular basis and during appropriate phases of the project and (2) amidst productivity and safety concerns, it would be disincentive for construction managers to allow access to a large group of students . This paper presents an alternative to traditional field trips and lecture-based teaching: an augmented reality construction safety training system (SAVES) that immerses participants in a realistic and representative construction environment. This module was developed with the intention of providing students with a virtual environment as an alternate method to learn hazard recognition when frequent site visits are unrealistic. Such a module helps students to better understand construciton safety, a key skill that employers find highly desireable. After development of the SAVES system, we empirically tested the effects of a single intervention that included SAVES, an associated training package, and cognitive mnemonics. This test was designed based on the multiple-baseline approach using a series of high resolution photographs and real construction environments as pre-tests and post-tests. Background on construction safety hazard recognition In spite of rigorous efforts to reduce injury rates, the construction industry consistently has failed to reduce injury rates to acceptable levels . Injury rates recorded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics continue to indicate no significant improvement in safety performance over the last decade. Unfortunately, research continues to validate that construction personnel are more likely to be injured on the job . The dynamic nature of construction work and task unpredictability on projects makes hazard recognition difficult . In fact, a study conducted by Carter and Smith indicate a large proportion of hazards as not being identified or assessed on typical projects. As a result, construction personnel are exposed to hazards that they are unaware of , which increases the risk of injury occurrence. During preconstruction planning, hazard evaluation generally involves predicting task-methods and associated hazards. A risk analysis is then performed to identify appropriate injury prevention techniques. Such approaches are common in research literature. For example, Mitropoulos and Guillama evaluated several high risk practices involving residential framing and suggested risk mitigating strategies and Albert and Hallowell identified hazards for working on Transmission and Distribution (T&D) lines. Apart from preconstruction safety planning, construction workers use a number of methods to recognize occupational hazards. For example, job safety analysis delves into work-tasks prior to initiating work to recognize relevant hazards and checklists use conventional templates to ensure hazards are recognized . Despite such methods contributing to safer work-places , hazards still go unidentified . To improve hazard recognition processes, researchers have extensively studied causal factors of injuries . Results of a recent survey of construction injuries indicate that at least 42% of accidents occur as construction personnel lack adequate knowledge . Had they been aware of risk exposure, they would have taken appropriate measures to keep themselves safe . Unfortunately, even P ge 23139.3 engineers and safety professionals lack required hazard recognition skills. Considering the importance of this issue, Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) educators are to take active measures to ingrain hazard recognition competency in students prior to them taking active roles in the industry. Phase 1: Development of SAVES and training protocol As mentioned above, despite efforts, injuries are common on construction projects. Research on causal factors attributes inadequate knowledge and awareness as being key factors for such poor performance. The evident solution to this problem is to provide individuals with reliable and retainable knowledge for hazard recognition through well-designed training programs. Current forms of training are limited in that they focus on regulatory requirements, while not providing contextual learning. Similarly, safety education in the Construction Engineering and Management (CEM) curriculum focuses on OSHA regulatory requirements, rather than providing context-based learning. One prominent solution repeatedly found throughout literature is the use of augmented reality construction safety training systems. In our endeavor to respond to this critical need, we developed SAVES (see Figure 1): a high fidelity virtual training environment that integrated virtual and real environment components using the Unreal Development kit (UDK). The purpose of the developed tool was to improve students’ and construction personnel’s situational-awareness regarding hazards on dynamic construction projects. SAVES was designed based on the principles of mnemonics where cognitive cues in the form of energy sources were provided to trainees. The theory behind providing energy sources as cognitive cues is based on the general understanding that hazards are associated with the inappropriate release of energy. In other words, energy that is required to accomplish work tasks on projects if released inappropriately may cause loss-of-control as a result of which construction personnel may be injured. Table 1 provides the list of the energysource based cognitive-cues and relevant examples. In the virtual augmented reality construction environment workers are exposed to real hazards, while not exposing them to any risk. The training protocol begins with educating users on the cognitive energy-source cues. Following the preliminary educational module, users are presented with various work scenarios (virtual) as they navigate through the 3D work-space. The users identify hazards, their associated energy sources, and appropriate severity levels of risks that the hazard poses. In response, SAVES provides verbal feedback on the hazards that were successfully recognized and those that were missed. It is expected that iterative feedback will help improve hazard recognition and retention for future challenges.