Abstract:

Developing effective risk assessment capabilities in students learning the ropes and professionals facing uncertain situations can be challenging due to the inherent uncertainties associated with risk. Yet, risk is everywhere. This abstract presents an approach that employs serious games with embedded priming to enhance the development of risk assessment skills; the case study focuses on the realm of occupational hazards.

Occupational risk assessments are intricate tasks requiring comprehensive technical knowledge. Things get even more tricky when dealing with invisible hazards such as noise, radiation, and fine airborne particulates. Traditional methods have often proved limited in effectively preparing students and workers to assess these risks. This shortcoming has highlighted a need for an alternative pedagogical approach.

An Iowa State University team developed AssessVR, a serious game-based simulation tool to provide students and safety professionals with hands-on experience in hazard identification and risk assessment. The team hypothesized that embedded priming in a game-based environment would lead to enhanced risk assessment skills. The AssessVR platform allows participants to examine a simulated workplace and assess it for hazardous noise levels. Participants can engage in hazard recognition, develop evaluation strategies, and perform risk assessment and analysis by utilizing the data generated within the simulation.

The AssessVR efficacy was tested with twenty-seven students across three universities in the USA that were randomly assigned to one of two settings: Utilitarian (no gamified elements) or Gamified. Post-simulation, students completed a survey and submitted a risk assessment report. The analysis of this data showed significant enhancement in the quality of risk assessment performed by students in the Gamified setting of AssessVR. The results demonstrate the potential effectiveness of serious games with embedded priming for developing risk assessment skills.

These findings underscore the potential of serious games such as AssessVR in strengthening risk assessment capabilities and serve as an invitation to further explore the potential of serious games with embedded priming as innovative pedagogical tools to confront the challenges in risk assessment training and to help mitigate the repercussions of suboptimal preparation in this critical domain.

Keywords:

Risk assessment, Occupational Hazards.