The Kola MMC, a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel in the Murmansk Region, has created a VR course to practice evacuation actions during a chlorine leakage and carbonyl nickel department emergency.
This is not the first experience of using virtual reality technologies at the Kola MMC, but the VR course on industrial safety was developed here for the first time. The training is designed for employees and visitors of the workshop, who run the greatest risk during the emergency events. The students of the course can move, hold objects and observe the chlorine cloud. During the walkthrough, it is possible to practice actions in an emergency situation: where to go, where to get a gas mask.
The course was developed by employees of Norilsk Nickel. To make the virtual world as realistic as possible, experts scanned the premises, rendered them in 3D and developed a scenario for performing certain tasks.
"The most valuable thing at the time of the accident is time. If you work out the sequence of actions in virtual reality, it will be easier for a person to navigate in a stressful situation. And the VR environment helps to work out all the steps in practice. Therefore, we will develop [this technology] in the field of industrial safety," said Dmitry Sannikov, Director of the Department of Innovation and Digital Technologies at Kola MMC.
Alex Shishlo, Editor in Chief of the European Bureau, Rough&Polished
