Application of Game Engine Technology for Construction Safety Training: a Middle Eastern Case Study

The construction industry is known to have one of the most hazardous work environments leading to a high number of accidents and both serious and fatal injuries. One way to mitigate these accidents is by implementing proper safety training for construction workers. Traditionally, safety training is implemented using passive methods such as toolbox meetings, informative presentations, or videos. Recently, game engines have started gaining attention for safety training purposes. However, despite the extensive research on game engine-based safety training, still no research has developed a location-based tool to assess and train construction workers on safety measures. Moreover, this research looks into which personality factors which have a direct effect on worker's safety behavior could be used in the development of these tools. Furthermore, the proposed tool was tested on 25 construction workers from the Middle East. Workers' feedback showed the effectiveness of the developed tool, and showed that the construction industry in the Middle East is ready to engage in such training methods.