Abstract:

More than one in five fatal accidents at work in the EU-28 in 2012 took place within the construction sector. Workers report high levels of exposure to physical risks although they seem to be well informed about health and safety in the workplace.

The partnership is composed by seven partners (Sataedu Satakunta Educational Federation, Open Universiteit Nederland, Westdeutscher Handwerkskammertag, Fundatia Romano-Germana Timisoara, Warrington Collegiate and Centro Edile Andrea Palladio), and it is coordinated by Fundación Laboral de la Construcción. They considered the development of serious games for mobile phones as an excellent tool to acquire basic health and safety skills in the construction sector. This is the objective of project Serious Games on Health and Safety for mobile learning (H&S Games).

Through game-based learning, three key aspects are achieved: a knowledge transfer method by using “game play”, an exchange among players which includes some form of competition, and a reward/penalty system as an assessment method. In addition, the development of the game in a software designed for mobile phones, will allow any person (not necessarily a construction worker) access this knowledge anywhere, anytime.

The main aims of this project are:
• To develop a tool and procedures to boost safe work on a site. Health and safety is crucial in the construction sector, and the use of mini-games would help to spread awareness among construction workers about risks they face.
• To harmonize different approaches and methods to make it suitable for a cross border use.
• Facilitate lifelong learning by offering Open Education Resources.
• To extend the possibilities of making a joint labour market keeping health and safety common criteria.
• Promote stronger coherence between the worlds of work and training to achieve a better perform regarding youth unemployment, integration of migrants in labour markets and non-skilled workers.
• Encourage safe behaviour at work, boosting the involvement of workers in the preventive management within companies.

The most important results of the project are the pedagogical methodology and development itself of the games, twelve in total.

There are many risks that any construction worker should be aware, but they had to be limited in this context. To determine them, the partnership conducted questionnaires at 137 workers supervisors, health and safety trainers and other experts in the construction sector during January 2016, in which they were able to evaluate among 21 subjects considered as a basic topic to know on the site.

Each game will tackle one risky situation, so the 12 games will deal with: work at height, personal protection equipment, machinery, electricity, how to act in emergency situations, collective protection measures, hygienic risks, load handling, tidying and cleaning, portable and hand tools, falling of objects and safety signs.

It is expected that methodology and games have already been developed by spring 2017.

The project counts on a website, available in Spanish and English: http://microsites.fundacionlaboral.org/hs-games

Keywords:

Health and safety, lifelong learning, game-based learning, m-learning, construction sector.