Fire safety simulator

Each of us can remember how boring safety classes can be. This is largely due to our false belief that nothing bad will happen. Another important reason is the feeling of uselessness of all this book knowledge, because in real life we rarely act exactly according to instructions. All this leads to a lack of real knowledge of how to act in an emergency.

Ask yourself, how much do you remember from the first aid course, which is demonstrated in driving classes, or at school in safety classes? In 90% of cases, the answer is “probably not”, and the reasons for this are listed above.

In the case of safety at the enterprise, the responsibility is even greater, because the employee is often responsible not only for himself, but also for the safety of his colleagues at work. Using virtual reality in the learning process allows you to avoid these, as well as some other problems.

In most businesses, safety instructions are mandatory by law. Depending on the scope of the company’s activities, the instruction may vary, but at the same time, fire actions training is mandatory for almost every employee, since this threat is universal.

According to statistics (https://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/statistics/nonres_bldg_fire_estimates.pdf), in the United States in 2016, there were 96,800 cases of fires in non-residential buildings that affected more than 1,600 people, which is an average of 265 fires daily. The total amount of damage was more than $2 billion. It is obvious that a well-developed fire safety instruction is vital for any enterprise.

We have developed a VR solution that allows you to successfully teach employees safety instructions and a set of actions in case of a fire, both in production and in an office or warehouse. As a basis for demonstrating the capabilities of the solution, a laboratory with several places in it was taken, as well as several workstations equipped with personal computers.

Simulation capabilities allow you to imitate 2 types of fire: class A/B fire (paper, trash, and flammable liquids) and class C fire (electrical equipment). A class A/B Fire occurs in one of the shelves in the room, when a class C fire occurs directly in one of the server racks.

The solution involves three main modes of operation:

• Learning – familiarization with the virtual environment, its objects, and ways to interact with them.
• Training – working out the sequence of actions in case of a fire.
• Exam – performing previously worked out actions for a limited time with subsequent evaluation by the instructor.

The visual effects that are used in the solution not only depict flames and hot air flows realistically, but also allow you to create the effect of smoke in the room and activate a fire alarm, which complicates the fulfillment of a given scenario and brings the conditions closer to reality. The trainee can interact with items such as power switches, fire alarm buttons, telephones, and fire equipment – fire extinguishers of various types depending on the class of fire.