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.