‘Life Savers Game’ enhances safety at workplace based on play and learn

Bezons, Amstelveen, 21 March 2016 - A track worker that hardly escapes death or a vehicle ending up in a ditch alongside the railway because parking spots are located too close to the waterside. These situations are examples of scenario’s included in the ‘Life Savers game’ Atos has developed in collaboration with its Dutch partner IJsfontein. The Netherlands has taken the lead with this unique example of serious gaming to stimulate safety at the workplace. This game illustrates how Atos uses a technological platform in order to increase the safety awareness of employees. ProRail, responsible for the maintenance of the Dutch railways, is a pioneer and was to first organization to implement the game in the Netherlands. Similar games can be developed and personalized for other customers in various sectors and countries.

Every 15 seconds 153 accidents at the workplace Every 15 seconds 153 employees worldwide are involved in an accident at work. Every year, over 317 million accidents occur at the workplace. A lot of these incidents result in long-lasting absence (source: international figures of ILO, International Labour Organization*). ‘Serious gaming’ is a very suitable method to address challenges related to awareness and the existing attitude concerning safety. It is more effective than traditional methods such as following classes, reading books or participating in e-learnings. Moreover, it is a very effective way to reach out to a broad audience, to motivate them and enrich their experiences with game elements. The new ‘Life Savers Game’ doesn’t focus on rules and procedures, but on creating a mind-set in order to enhance the attention for safety at the workplace.

ProRail is responsible for the maintenance of the Dutch railways and the construction of railway stations. During these activities - performed by its own staff as well as by third parties - ProRail aims to protect people working on, nearby of next to the railways as much as possible. Therefore, it called upon Atos’ expertise as a leading digital services company. Together with its partner IJsfontein, Atos has developed the program ‘Working Safe? Healthy at Home’. The Life Savers Game is part of this program and is an interactive game to make employees familiar with safety procedures.

Ensuring safety more effectively

“ProRail wants to ensure safety without any accidents for people who work near the railways. The safety of our track workers and other employees is our highest priority. At the same time, it is crucial that our own employees are aware of the importance of our safety guidelines,” states Robert Oosterhof, Director of the railAlert Foundation and former manager Building Management at ProRail. The railAlert Foundation aims to ensure that no deadly accidents or accidents resulting in long-lasting absence occur during works on the railway infrastructure. The Life Savers Game illustrates that accidents mostly have different causes and that this should be top-of-mind during the whole process, from design up to delivery. The awareness of safety dilemmas increases after employees have played the game and they know better how they can be more vigilant towards matters like these.”

“The implementation of improvements based on rules, guidelines and procedures often is counterproductive. What is needed, is encouraging a collective sense of responsibility and serious gaming can help to achieve this. People can experience themselves how they can act in a specific situation,” comments Bas Stroeken, Executive Consultant at Atos Consulting. “With the Life Savers Game we have developed an innovative, interactive application that can be used to simulate scenarios concerning safety at the workplace, as well as to enhance awareness about other themes, such as cyber security, quality management and integrity with the use of gaming elements.”

How does it work?

The development of and playing games is not sufficient. Atos helps creating awareness about the importance of a safe workplace and encourages a vigilant, proactive attitude towards safety. Some of the used methods:

• Intelligent deployment of digital tools, such as an app for reporting incidents
• Use of big data analytics
• Traditional interventions, such as coaching executives and testing as well as training of perceptions concerning safety

First results

The Life Savers Game focuses on awareness and creating insights. By playing scenarios that are based on real incidents, employees learn how they can intervene on crucial moments in order to prevent accidents. These dilemmas are based on real events, aiming to make employees extra vigilant towards safety and give them an overview of the chain of events preceding accidents. Moreover, the game helps employees making the right decisions. Since the launch, over 1,250 persons have played the game. Almost 75 percent of the players indicates that it is an educational game, 7 out of 10 employees state they are more aware of the importance to tackle safety issues and 65 percent acknowledges to be encouraged to be more vigilant towards possible risks**.

*ILO aims to make the whole world aware of the scale and consequences of work related accidents, injuries and diseases, by placing the health and safety of all employees on the international agenda and by encouraging concrete measures on all relevant levels.

**Quantitative results about enhanced safety can only be given in a later stadium, because statistical conclusions are part of prolonged assessments.