Immersive Rigger Training (VR): Overhead & Mobile Crane Operations
Overview
Traditional rigger and crane-operations training often struggles to safely recreate the complex, high-pressure conditions where incidents occur. This project created VR-based training material for riggers in a mining context to strengthen competence and reduce operational risk across overhead and mobile crane activities.
The challenge
The client needed training that goes beyond theory—training that consistently tests judgement, planning discipline, and control verification in scenarios that mirror real-life lifting risks. The solution also needed to translate engineering accuracy into VR scenes developers could build, validate, and iterate quickly.
My role
I acted as the "connector" between the VR development team and the client's mining/crane engineers—owning the learning and safety logic behind the simulations, and converting it into detailed, build-ready storyboards.
Approach & methodology
- Incident-led research and analysis
- Collected mobile and overhead crane accident data and analysed it to identify the most common failure modes.
- Interpreted free-text incident descriptions to classify accident types, injuries, and where they occur in the crane operating domain—so the VR environment could accurately "stage the scene."
- Process modelling (how work should happen)
- Built a detailed business process for rigger planning, preparation, and execution.
- Reduced it to a high-level process to serve as a reusable backbone for scenario design.
- Aligned the training flow with core operational steps such as PPE selection, site inspection, lift characterisation, equipment selection, crane inspection/selection, lift planning, and lifting operations.
- Risk analysis and control mapping
- Developed a comprehensive Bowtie analysis that mapped threats → top events → consequences, including preventive and recovery controls, and linked applicable legislation and standards.
- Used client Job Risk Assessments and planned task observations to ensure controls were realistic and auditable within the VR scenarios.
- Scenario prioritisation and design
- Selected training scenarios based on common accidents/failure modes and client input.
- Designed scenarios as immersive tasks where the learner must plan and execute lifts while handling operational pressures and changing site conditions.
Training scenarios included
The VR course content was built around realistic lifting challenges, including:
- Adverse weather / shovel bucket load (selection, inspection, planning under pressure)
- Complex calculations (centre of gravity determination and lift plan constraints)
- Barricades and gusts (route inspection, barricading, windy conditions)
- Grader drop (crane inspection plus managing nearby workers during a trench lift)
- Putting on the roof (obstacle management; preventing hazardous contact outcomes)
- Tandem lift / boiler removal (two-crane planning in constrained space)
What was delivered
- A full set of detailed wireframes and storyboards for MVP scenarios, including actors, equipment, required documentation, navigation/narrative, and environmental conditions (terrain/weather).
- Scenario logic that embeds control checks informed by Bowtie analysis and operational best practice.
- Structured review and refinement sessions with developers, client stakeholders, and engineers.
Development collaboration & validation
Storyboards were workshopped with developers alongside client and engineering SMEs. The VR team produced Unity-based prototypes, demonstrated them for review, and iterated based on consolidated feedback until final approval was achieved.
Learning outcomes supported
The course design targets capability improvements that matter on site—situational awareness, decision-making, problem-solving under pressure, stress management, risk management, and spatial awareness.