Immersive Storytelling Safety Training to Enhance Trainee Engagement: Pilot Study for Fall Hazards in the Residential Construction Sector

Fall accidents remain the leading cause of fatalities in the United States. Training programs are often used to mitigate fall accidents, but they lack effectiveness in terms of engagement experienced by trainees. This pilot study developed an immersive storytelling safety training approach to increase trainee engagement during safety training focusing on residential industry fall hazards. A between-subject experimental design was used to comparatively evaluate trainee engagement across two conditions: (1) immersive storytelling, and (2) immersive non-storytelling. Trainee behavioral, cognitive, and emotional engagement was measured using eye-tracking data and surveys. Twenty students from construction-related programs participated in this pilot study. While the results suggest some portions of the training that can benefit from the use of the storytelling technique, no significant statistical differences were observed across behavioral, cognitive, or emotional engagement. This study highlights how immersive storytelling safety training can be used as an alternative method for fall hazard safety training.