We use cookies only to enhance your experience on our site. We do not sell any of your personal information. By continuing to browse, you agree to our privacy and cookie policy. More information

Date: October 19, 2020
Name: Olivier Pierre
Location: Paris, France
Job: CEO of Immersive Factory

Two brothers on a mission to spark behavioral change

Here’s how they made it a (virtual) reality.

Every year, there are around 5,000 deaths onsite at work. The two brothers, Olivier and Bertrand Pierre, strive to lower that statistic daily. Over a virtual coffee session, Olivier discussed with us how he co-founded the health, environment, and safety training start-up: Immersive Factory.  

Let’s rewind to 2015, when this all began. Olivier worked for a video game company beginning to experiment with a new technology: virtual reality (VR). At that time, only the Oculus Rift was available. “I was amazed by the power of VR,” shared Olivier after only scratching the surface of the VR world. 

The two brothers teamed up to make an idea come to life. “We really wanted to use the best of VR in a business-to-business (B2B) environment,” explained Olivier, “How could we help businesses address their needs? Could VR be the right solution?”

“We were very amazed by the traction of VR.” 

Within a few months, this small company had over 60 large businesses approaching them. “They wanted to discover what VR could bring to the health and safety field,” he said, “We discovered health and safety was actually a huge market. We had no clue.”

Sometimes serendipity steps in at the right time.

Safety first

Their goal remains improving employee behavior for healthier, safer workspaces. The role of these immersive VR trainings is in the prevention of onsite work accidents. Behavior is key.

A few years ago, Immersive Factory collaborated with one of the worldwide leaders in water distribution and waste collection. After unfortunately experiencing three fatal accidents, this company in Morocco sought out the support of VR to better safety train its employees.

Through the work with Immersive Factory, they were able to create a VR simulation to instruct employees on correct electrical procedure. Following this project, a company in Poland also reached out to create a program on pedestrian safety in factories.

Olivier further elaborated the plans to deploy the VR training to all the business’ sites by 2022. A massive step for Immersive Company, but also a massive precaution for all the employees. 

In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun

“It’s a gamified, engaging training,” assures Olivier. He wants it to be more than just a task to be checked off, but rather a driver for trainers and trainees worldwide. 

Accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Immersive Factory updated their online shop into an immersive social hub.This platform hosts 60 health and safety trainings with mobile, desktop, and VR formats. Trainers are able to customize the environment and host events in various virtual rooms. The model switched from purely onsite trainings to completely online experiences.

Written by
Delphine Dall’Agata
Published by the International Training Centre of the ILO

Other articles in the category "Interview"

October 18, 2019
Interview
Vinci Energies: "Safety messages are often perceived as boring. However, virtual reality makes it possible to reverse this trend."

Report with Geovanny Marchan, President of the Vinci Energies Division, and Megane Chouteau, QHSE Project Manager of Vinci Energies In a constantly changing world, VINCI Energies is accelerating the deployment of new technologies to bring about two major changes: digital transformation and energy transition. Vinci Energies' work makes energy, transport and communication infrastructures, factories, buildings and information systems more reliable, secure and efficient. Vinci Energies has once again innovated in terms of safety by collaborating with Immersive Factory, renowned for developing the world's first virtual reality training platform dedicated to occupational health and safety. Vinci Energies aims for Safety Excellence. To do this, it was looking for a technology that would improve the animation of prevention as close to the field as possible, and if the QHSE team reports that it had questioned the efficiency of augmented reality, blended learning, SPOC or MOOC; it was finally virtual reality that was chosen. According to Geovanny Marchan and Megane Chouteau, security messages are more effectively assimilated because virtual reality is more fun, striking and makes memory work harder. They add: "Safety messages are often perceived as boring. However, virtual reality makes it possible to reverse this trend. ». Virtual reality is therefore perfectly integrated into their innovative projects. They benefit from the following advantages: it puts their employees in a working situation where they have no right to make mistakes, it tends to achieve a perfect technical act from the preparation to the end of the operation and it reports on the risks of accidents related to certain work habits. After 5 months of development in collaboration with Immersive Factory, Vinci Energies presented at Safety Week 2019 a virtual reality exercise aimed at raising awareness among learners about electrical risk, road risk and working at height. The 1000 employees trained to date and the initiative to offer the exercise to each new employee testify to the positive results of this method.  Indeed, virtual reality allows employees to experience a risky situation without endangering them and thus fight against bad habits. It also made them realize that experienced employees do not necessarily master safety instructions. With this technology, they can actively involve the learner in a group of 4 to 6 people who challenge each other and thus create a real dynamic of animation. Weeks later, the message was retained and the accident experienced in virtual reality was still present in the minds of employees. "We remember better what we experience" but even better what we feel, perfectly reflects Immersive Factory's vision of learning. The start-up collaborates with many companies to create exercises based on the benefits of active pedagogy, in which the learner is put in a real situation and is the main actor in his training.

See more
April 16, 2019
Interview
Immersive Factory makes its debut in Morocco

Immersive Factory and IDEO Factory, attended the Preventica show in Casablanca. We are proud to have launched "Immersive Learning" in Morocco, a new training technique that consists of immersing the learner, employee or new rec...

See more
June 28, 2018
Interview
Actemium testimony during the Safety day

To pursue a different approach to risk prevention in companies, Immersive Factory has developed an innovative and turnkey virtual reality based security animation which manufacturers can easily integrate as a workshop during their Security Day or Security Week.  ""Immersion in a virtual construction site: a new tool to develop a security reflex to help identify, evaluate and control risks" - Olivier Groux, Environment and Security Officer at Actemium Dunkerque, during their Safety Day held by Immersive Factory"  More information on Safety Day  

See more