Accidents and occupational death are a major concern in many working sectors due to their hazardous nature. In this regard, confined spaces work represents a case in point.
In this regard, improvement in virtual reality technology of the last years, due to the metaverse concept that is changing the way to interact with the external world, could ideally suggest a solution to solve the lack of standard training programmes, by providing simulated training environments with an enough high realism, to induce in workers same reactions and behaviours of physical workplaces.
However, to date neither standard procedures exist to measure the level of immersivity (e.g. embodiment) experienced by people in virtual environments in front of specific risky working situations, nor to predict whether the worker will be able to cope with these risky situations by maintaining a safe behaviour (i.e. fitness to work).
The FIT2WORK project will develop a "fitness to work" model based on neurophysiological measures (i.e. biosignals from the worker body, such as EEG, ECG, EDA, EOG) related to the worker’s psychophysical state, in terms of embodiment and experienced human factors, tested and integrated in a simulated training environment based on a comprehensive multisensory integration, enabling the worker to learn how to manage her/his behaviours, in front of risky situations.
This project will also generate a list of guidelines regarding training procedures, needed to enhance worker “fitness to work”, to be used as a basis for future regulations regarding how to provide effective training in confined environments.
The Industrial Neuroscience laboratory of the Sapienza University of Rome will coordinate the project activity, under the scientific direction of Prof. Pietro Aricò.
The Virtual Reality Lab “MARTE” of the University of Naples Federico II will be involved in the project as research unit under the scientific direction of Prof. Giuseppe Di Gironimo, to develop the simulated scenarios to be used along the experimental campaign to be performed within the FIT2WORK project.