Virtual reality training may improve construction site safety by exploring “options that can kill you”

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    NORWOOD, Massachusetts (WBZ) — Avoiding injuries at construction sites is a critical challenge and a company in Massachusetts hopes virtual reality might be the answer.

At BOND Civil & Utility Construction in Norwood, they’re using a program called Pixaera. It uses virtual reality to put their workers in harm’s way, without the real-life danger.

“You can explore the different options that can kill you,” BOND’s safety director Christopher McCarthy told WBZ-TV.

“It’s like a safe way of failing essentially,” said safety manager Heather Jameson.

The training is a new way construction companies are keeping safe, even as projects in the city boom.

“There’s a massive amount in Boston. It’s more than I’ve seen in my career,” McCarthy said.

He told WBZ training in virtual reality is “the only place you can do it. Otherwise, you’re exposed to real hazards and the results of those hazards can be tragic.”

The training may look like a game and even feel like one at times, but the immersion is quite real. It’s all about real-time decision making in simulated settings. Make no mistake, you can kill someone if you don’t answer correctly.

“You’re vulnerable. When you put that headset on, you’re in a vulnerable space and you have to trust the people around you,” McCarthy said.

Currently, unions have simulators for heavy machinery, but BOND doesn’t know of anyone else using virtual reality in Boston.

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