APPLYING VIRTUAL REALITY TO FORESTRY MACHINERY SAFETY EDUCATION

Virtual reality (VR) based training systems are being used with considerable success in many areas. In regards to forestry machinery, VR based simulators have been successfully used for training harvester operators more than 20 years. The benefits of using VR based simulators are that they are cheaper than real machines, and training can be standardized, custom-made and performed without concern about environmental disturbance or personal safety. In order to successful acquiring knowledge in area of forestry machinery safety for engineering students it is necessary to adopt elementary principles associated with risk assessment. The ability of engineering students to identify hazards associated with forestry machinery is a fundamental skill that promotes safety in practices. This paper presents a review of existing virtual reality based training systems for forestry machinery and conceptual design of VR simulation model for identification of hazards associated with forestry machinery operation.