An advanced solutions for operators’ training working in confined and /or pollution suspected space

Abstract

Carrying out maintenance, regulation, installation of mechanical parts, cleaning and other activities in confined and / or suspected pollution spaces, often represents a challenge; indeed many are the cases of fatal incidents for operators. As in every country, there are ad-hoc regulations to increase the safety of operators at work: as far as Italy is concerned, the decree 177/2011 requires the qualification of companies operating in confined and / or suspected of pollution spaces with the aim of raising the level of safety, also defining strict criteria for all those business contracts related to confined spaces. However, while regulations clearly define what confined spaces are, the training issues are not appropriately addressed (e.g. the Italian legislation only makes reminder to general laws such as the decree 81/2008) and there is no uniformity in terms of methods, procedures and required training times for operators working in confined spaces.The Italian National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Work (INAIL) has conceptualized and developed a physical simulator for training those operators working in confined spaces. The research activities carried out by using the physical simulator points out that the integration of Industry 4.0 enabling technologies (such as Virtual and Augmented Reality developed in cooperation with University of Calabria) may further extend the training capabilities and operators’ skills. The idea proposed in this article is to show how live exercises made with a physical simulator combined with Virtual Immersive and Interactive Reality can be profitably used to tackle the operators’ training problem within confined spaces.