Health and Safety in Civil Engineering CDIO

Health and Safety in Civil Engineering CDIO

S. Millard, G. Schleyer, N. Stacey, R. Taylor (2008).  Health and Safety in Civil Engineering CDIO. 10.

Embedding a culture of health and safety into engineering learning and teaching is an important objective in the development of a professional engineer. However the topic can appear very "dry" to students, who may lack engagement. This paper introduces a new virtual reality simulation which has been developed to illustrate real health and safety hazards on an industrial construction site environment. Students can explore the domain and discover realistic hazards. They are then invited to identify the risks associated with each hazard.

The virtual reality simulation has been used to support a realistic civil engineering experiential initiative, the Constructionarium. Each year students work together for a week-long team project on a real construction site to build realistic scale structures. Students are required to submit method statements and associated risk assessments to the contractor before being allowed to proceed. Some of the real health and safety issues encountered during the Constructionarium are reviewed, together with plans for linking this project with the virtual reality simulation more closely. 

Authors (New): 
S. G. Millard
Graham K. Schleyer
N. Stacey
R. Taylor
Pages: 
10
Affiliations: 
University of Liverpool, United Kingdom
Health & Safety Laboratory, Buxton, England, United Kingdom
InterInstitutional Group and RHT Risk Management, United Kingdom
Keywords: 
health & safety
Implement
Operate
Civil Engineering
construction
Active learning
Year: 
2008
Reference: 
The Constructionarium, http://www.constructionarium.co.uk/: 
The Liverpool Engineer, http://www.liv.ac.uk/engdept/liverpool_engineer.htm: 
Schleyer GK, Duan RF, Stacey N and Williamson J (2006) ‘Educating engineers in risk concepts’. Proceedings of the International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education. Higher Education Academy Subject Centres for Materials Education, Liverpool pp 496-501.: 
Stacey N, Williamson J, Schleyer GK, Duan RF and Taylor RH (2007) ‘Integrating risk concepts into undergraduate engineering courses’. Proceedings of the 3rd International CDIO Conference, 11-14 June, 2007, MIT, Cambridge, Massachusetts.: 
Schleyer GK, Duan RF, Williamson J and Stacey N (2007) ‘Assessing the awareness of risk concepts by new engineering students’. International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education vol 35 issue 3 pp 184-197.: 
Schleyer GK, Duan RF and Stacey N (2008) ‘Role-play experience through virtual re-construction of accident investigation’. To be presented at the International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education, 14 -16 July 2008, Loughborough University, UK.: 
Stacey N, Taylor RH, and Fullam B (2008) ‘A health and safety risk education elearning package for undergraduate engineers’. To be presented at the International Conference on Innovation, Good Practice and Research in Engineering Education, 14 -16 July 2008, Loughborough University, UK: 
Taylor RH, Bell D and Smyth V (2006) ‘Development of an IIG/HSE e-learning health and safety risk education package for engineering undergraduates’. HSE Research Report 452: 
Taylor RH, Stacey N, Cummings R, Vallance S, Bellenger D and Smyth V (2006) ‘Further development of an IIG/HSE e-learning health and safety risk education package for engineering undergraduates’. HSE Research Report 482: 
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