Safety does not happen by accident, can gaming help improve occupational health and safety in organizations?

Abstract

In 2015, the Association of Workers’ Compensation Boards of Canada recorded around quarter-million workplace injuries, a staggering figure which does not include incidents that go undocumented. A lack of health and safety training and/or lack of safety awareness can lead to workplace injuries and in the worst cases a workplace death. It is imperative that organizations make Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) one of their top priorities. In this paper, we explore the implementation of an adaptive personalized learning support system within a game that is centered on health and safety training. The design of the game incorporates a feedback loop that constantly evaluates the player’s performance while they complete learning challenges. As the players proceed within the game’s environment their profile is constantly updated thus providing an insight into their strengths and weaknesses. The game is evolutionary i.e. it is designed to adjust the challenges given to the player in order to focus on improving the player’s underperforming skills. This game is a step towards overcoming a lack of health and safety training observed in small and medium enterprises. Through this game we try to create a fun and motivating environment where workers are being exposed to the health and safety mindset and learning through relevant challenges. The game is made in collaboration with the public services health and safety association (PSHSA) based in Toronto. The learning challenges aim to better the player’s health and safety performance in the organizational performance metric (OPM) and hone their underlying health and safety skills.