Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Although regulatory norms on work safety offer guidelines for organizing and preventing accidents, the construction site is an environment susceptible to deviations, sometimes due to the lack of effective training. To this end, technologies such as virtual reality become possibilities for innovations with great advantages, as they allow simulations, modeling, exploratory environments and games, which allow the user to create a greater connection and interest in the subject in question.
OBJECTIVE:
This study aimed to present the technological advances applied in safety-oriented training in the construction industry worldwide, emphasizing serious games through a systematic review of the literature.
METHODS:
The review was carried out using five scientific databases, with a research protocol to answer questions about the application of gamification to guarantee the safety of workers.
RESULTS:
Fifteen articles were evaluated, with descriptive, observational research and case studies. It was found that the use of technologies in construction safety is not yet a common reality in the sector, as it presents challenges and limitations, such as gameplay and issues related to cost. However, they show great potential as a dynamic solution in the training of civil construction workers, effectively collaborating in accident prevention and work safety.
CONCLUSION:
Several software programs and applications were found for creating three-dimensional scenes and for providing users with a customized experience according to the needs observed in the virtual interaction; building information modeling tools, which promote realistic project modeling; and equipment to visualize the scenes created. Furthermore, the possibility of combining traditional theoretical teaching with serious games was verified. However, gamification applicability is an alternative that still has limitations, in addition to the lack of flexibility in the rules imposed on the game, hampering users’ authenticity in making decisions.
Introduction
The set of technological innovations resulting from Industry 4.0, a phenomenon that integrates advanced technologies with the use of tools and computers, has provided greater efficiency, productivity and automation in various fields of application. Virtual reality (VR) is a tool that simulates an environment, allowing for real-world interaction and immersion in the virtual environment. In the educational process, VR can provide experiences that stimulate the human brain and senses due to the transformation of the three-dimensional (3D) exploratory environment with glasses, headsets, and helmets to make the practice more realistic and create greater interaction, arousing more interest in the subject at hand.
In this context, studies are being developed to analyze immersive technologies’ use in professional education and training. Rahimian et al. [1] allowed assessing the effectiveness and application of technologies in interactive game-based virtual platforms to promote training, obtain knowledge improvements, and increase the automation of construction progress monitoring.
Currently, visualization techniques including building information modeling (BIM), gaming technology, VR and augmented reality are used to improve safety training on the construction site [2]. Even if in a limited way [3], recent studies and applications with gamification for safety training in construction show advantages in engagement and motivation to carry out activities [4]. Other positive aspects include the observation of sequences of actions, the possibility of making decisions without the actual occurrence of a hazard and the ease of understanding the safety of the construction site [5].
Serious games linked to an educational purpose have the ability to achieve goals for teaching, combined with gameplay, simulation, and syllabus content [6]. Moreover, they assist in improving performance by being an interactive approach that allows users to assimilate knowledge in a practical and participatory way, even developing a critical sense regarding certain attitudes to be taken in the work environment [7]. Moreover, VR has been found to improve engagement, motivation, enhance learning, and enable flexible interaction [8, 9].
In the construction sector, VR is a technology allied to educational measures that collaborate with accident risk control. Through VR, workers can be trained in virtual environments without being exposed to the real risk, such as falls, which is the factor that causes the most deaths in the sector.
In view of the impact of immersive technologies on teaching and as the construction site is an environment susceptible to accidents, this study aimed to present the technological advances applied in safety-oriented training in the construction industry worldwide, emphasizing serious games through a systematic review of the literature.
Materials and methods
The first stage of the systematic literature review was defined through a research protocol determining important information on the theme. To this end, the PICO strategy [10], consisting of items that initially guide the search to be done in a more assertive manner, was used.
The protocol was structured by first analyzing the studies in general on the theme and then defining the detailed questions presented in Chart 1. The following were defined: the study title, objectives, research questions, search terms with key words and synonyms, criteria for choosing the databases, and inclusion and exclusion criteria.
To conduct the RSL, the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) [11] were followed.
After establishing the criteria, combinations were made with the keywords using the Boolean operators “OR” and “AND” to form search strings in the following databases: Web of Science, Scopus, Engineering Village, Science Direct, and Taylor & Francis. International databases relevant to the civil engineering and technology fields were chosen.
When searching, the results were restricted to English and Portuguese without limiting the year of publication because it is a relatively new theme. For classification, the included articles were those with a specific approach to gamification and with the potential to answer the research questions. Regarding the study type, the articles dealing with descriptive research, observational research, and case studies were valid.
Exclusion criteria included articles that were unrelated to the keywords in the article title or abstract, those addressing industrial assembly or sustainability issues in the search, articles that were not available for reading and articles that were not published in indexed journals.
After criteria application, a quantitative analysis was performed, represented by graphics of the year of publication and publications per country. Then, the information was described and analyzed qualitatively.
Results and discussion
In the selection stage of publications in the databases, 1,316 articles were identified: 38 were found at Web of Science, 84 at Scopus, 82 at Engineering Village, 710 at Science Direct, and 402 at Taylor & Francis. Twenty-four articles were excluded for being duplicates and, when filtered according to the exclusion criteria, language, and selection by title and abstract, only 15 articles were selected for full reading. It was noted that all papers found in Engineering Village were also found in other databases. The selection steps are represented in Fig. 1.
Flowchart for article selection.
Graph 1 shows the number of publications according to the year, where there was no continuous growth of publications related to the theme because in 2017 and 2018 there were no articles included. The year 2021 stands out with the largest number of publications, evidencing that technology and gamification use in construction is a recent theme.
Publication per year.
Graph 2 expresses the number of publications per country among the papers included. It can be seen that the United States is the leading country in terms of resourcefulness in the use of technology and in the construction sector.
Publication per country.
Chart 1: Research protocol
Figure 2 shows the frequency with which the keywords were found in the papers. This image was generated by the Word Cloud Generator software, and it is possible to analyze that the most prominent words were “safety” and “training,” having a direct relationship with the objective proposed for the study of the systematic review to ensure safety in the civil construction sector through training involving games and VR.
Keywords with the highest recurrence.
Table 2 presents the list of studies included for analysis, presenting features regarding software, equipment, purpose of use, and designated target audience.
Chart 2: Characteristics of the analyzed articles
Chart 2: Characteristics of the analyzed articles
According to Table 2, it can be seen that all the analyzed works focused on the use of technology, with an emphasis on games that require users’ active participation, thus helping in developing knowledge concerning recurrent hazards in the civil construction sector, especially at the construction site [12]. The active learning method, identifying and solving problems, becomes a more dynamic process, which will reflect on the participant’s intuition and experience.
By using VR and gamification for educational purposes in civil construction, Pedro et al. [13] interpret it as an assessment form to test users’ knowledge of their cognitive abilities. Moreover, it enables the professionals involved to be more engaged in performing their tasks by providing immediate feedback with a higher level of absorption [14]. It is a practical experience that provides opportunities for interactions able to prevent accidents in the construction industry.
Mohd et al. [15] consider it a safe approach because, by providing an interaction environment with virtual scenes in the serious game, it allows construction workers to visualize the sequences of their actions and make decisions without an actual incident happening, reducing insecurities in performing tasks on real job sites.
It is also possible to analyze and evaluate each player’s performance according to the automated data in the game engine itself [12] who made it easier to identify and provide specific training for each participant using Unity, improving safety understanding.
Software and equipment
Graph 4 depicts the most commonly used software in the included papers. Unity is the most relevant software and is present in four results [12.] Unity can provide a serious gaming experience. Bhagwat et al. [16] show that, by combining Unity with BIM tools, the reproduction of instantaneous scenes of the virtual construction site is facilitated, providing a virtual tour of the construction site. Besides being a more affordable alternative, Unity is integrated with Autodesk, thus facilitating the creation of interactive scenes.
Most used software.
On the other hand, two other papers used Blender to generate the 3D scenes and objects in the virtual setting. Pedro et al. [13] state that it is a game engine that allows functions in an advanced way, capable of providing a realistic view of the environment developed virtually. This is a version considered easy to use, running on all types of operating systems and which does not take up as much computer memory, even when rendering.
The Virtual Safety Analysis for Engineering (V-SAFE), used in conjunction with the Unreal tool in one of the papers, can generate images using a game engine. Its most updated version, V-SAFE.v2, used in another paper, is able to provide a virtual construction environment involving activities such as falling from height, scaffold collapse, and falling objects, promoting significant improvements in safety knowledge for workers.
Regarding the means for viewing the created environment, Google Cardboard stands out, where Bhagwat et al. [16] show that it is a more accessible version for being more economical and providing training programs with minimal setup costs compared to other platforms. Google Cardboard is a mobile VR device, available for smartphones with the Android system [16, 17]. It is, however, also available for Smartphones running the iOS® operating system, allowing users to rotate their heads and view any region of the three-dimensional scenery from various perspectives [18].
The BIM methodology is advantageous because it allows for efficient gain and quality at all stages of the project, as well as automated management [19]. As a result, BIM tool integration, such as Autodesk Revit, has been used in more recent research [17, 16], allowing for efficient BIM of virtual scenarios in all works. Otherwise, Albert et al. [20] use Autodesk MAYA for rendering, which, combined with 3DSMax, reveals a simulation with avatar usage for animating the created environment.
Mohd et al. and Albert et al. [15, 20] argue about the target audience for safety training that construction workers need to be aware of and know how to recognize the hazards encountered because they are the most exposed to the risks encountered. According to Cheng and Teizer [21], workers are mostly affected because they are encouraged to work on the edge or beyond safe zones.
Park and Kim’s [2] teaching methods using games should be applied to workers and construction site managers; thus, in addition to improving knowledge about possible accidents at the construction site, it can improve communication between sectors, even reducing supervision in the execution of tasks.
From another perspective, Pedro et al. [13] consider that classroom teaching forms without execution and practice do not guarantee effective learning. The active methodology for Occupational Health and Safety students, with a more dynamic approach, allows learning through error observation, dialogue and collective interaction. The risks that are visualized in the games in relation to the lack of security, are able to provide students with a more critical and detailed look at the knowledge of the situation in question, increasing the performance of learning and engagement in the resolution and form of prevention. Thus, serious games enable greater adherence to the construction site experience in their professional training, ensuring a significant increase in safety knowledge compared to traditional methods [22].
The applicability of serious games using practical teaching is relevant at all stages. However, for its introduction in the classroom, it needs some resources for its full and effective execution, which is a great challenge today, given the scenario of inequality regarding the use of VR in education.
Construction site managers are appointed as a target audience due to the need to act and make decisions related to work safety [2]. In this sense, gamification provides the visualization and identification of risks in the virtual environment, allowing them to manage processes of preventive measures and create strategies and methods to ensure their employees’ safety.
When introducing games directly to construction workers, difficulties may arise since not all of them have technological skills, and because it is something new, it would take some time for them to learn. Incorporating traditional teaching with hands-on training through games, on the other hand, can provide moments of clarification and follow-up, making the process more dynamic and useful.
Conclusion
Traditional learning methods have restrictions, hindering the immersion and absorption of the content necessary to identify the existing risks in the workplace. Thus, the use of games for teaching is a dynamic solution in the training of civil construction professionals, resulting in a greater awareness of the risks encountered, preventing and ensuring safety in the workplace. Moreover, it can also measure workers’ levels of performance and understanding when carrying out the proposed activities.
In this review, several software programs and applications were found, such as Unity, for creating three-dimensional scenes and for providing users with a customized experience according to the needs observed in the virtual interaction; BIM tools, which promote realistic project modeling; and equipment to visualize the scenes created, such as Google Cardboard.
Furthermore, the possibility of combining traditional theoretical teaching with lectures and classes to later insert serious games into the workers’ training was verified. In this modality, games would be used to apply the initial knowledge in a practical way, thus facilitating the understanding.
However, gamification applicability is an alternative that still has limitations, such as the lack of flexibility in the rules imposed on the game, hampering users’ authenticity in making decisions. Added to this is the need for alternatives related to gameplay, so that all players remain at the same level and with the same abilities to control the virtual environment.
Therefore, the use of immersive technologies, especially games, needs to be improved with resources that favor the software more and consequently the experiences caused, besides the need to expand the technological area that is little explored today on the construction site.
Future research could consider improving the effectiveness of the long-term memory of the safety training tool without making it repetitive for users. The development of applications capable of predicting workers’ opinions and conclusions in a dynamic environment should also be considered, as well as comparisons regarding equipment costs so that they can be installed in the construction industry in a more affordable manner.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Informed consent
Not applicable.
Declaration of interest
None to report.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The present work had support from the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES, Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and Fundação de Amparo a Ciências e Tecnologias de Pernambuco (FACEPE, Foundation for Support Science and Tecnology of Pernambuco; BIC-1429-3.01/21).