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A United States-based Nigerian construction management expert, Dr. Opeyemi Oyeyipo has advocates for integrating immersive technologies like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Metaverse into Africa’s construction industry. This, he believes, will reduce workplace fatalities and enhance project delivery timelines.
With over 15 years of experience, Dr. Oyeyipo, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Texas at San Antonio, urged Africa to adopt proven digital technologies to transform construction safety. He sid by embracing these innovations, the continent can improve project outcomes and join the global digital revolution.
Decrying the growing number of tragedies caused by traditional safety practices in the construction industry, Oyeyipo insisted that the disturbing trend will be curbed once this immersive technology is fully adopted by professionals and firms in the African construction industry. He said: “Safety is often overlooked in most construction sites in developing countries, and this comes with tragic consequences in many cases. “This is not the case in developed societies where this immersive technology plays a critical role in construction safety.”
Oyeyipo further stated that “metaverse, an immersive platform comprises an interconnection of virtual worlds, making the users to interact in several environment at the same time.
The rise of metaverse technology is redefining how construction workers are trained for safety. By offering interactive, lifelike, and immersive simulations of complex site conditions, the metaverse provides a safer and more engaging way to prepare workers for real-life hazards. With growing technological advancements, its integration into construction safety practices is not only transforming traditional training methods but also significantly boosting effectiveness across the industry especially in developed nations such as France, Denmark, UK and United States”
Highlighting the potential of the metaverse in identifying and proffering ways to eliminate or reduce the dangers that construction workers are exposed to on-site even before they step on the field, the scholar, who is currently one of the managing partners at Optide Partnership Ltd., a multidisciplinary construction consultancy based in Lagos, added that by embracing the metaverse, construction firms in Nigeria and other parts of Africa will be able to expose their workers to critical training that would enhance their safety while on-site.
“This technology can help you recognise hazards before you get to site. During training, they help you see real-life scenarios of how the site will be and how the work process will be before you get to site. So, when you get to site, you already recognise the problems from the training received through this technology.
“Today, this immersive technology has moved from virtual reality to what we call augmented reality. We now have what we call mixed reality, which is the combination of the two.
“In recent times, the metaverse platform has emerged. So there has been a transition evolution of these immersive technologies’” he said.
Speaking on his ongoing research on how this immersive technology will be successfully implemented in Nigeria, he said there was an urgent need for construction safety trainings to go beyond classroom teachings to real-life, immersive trainings using the metaverse to address the gaps in the system.
“I’ve collaborated with researchers in the United Kingdom, United States, and South Africa to carry out three research projects. One of them has to do with demystifying the critical success factors in the implementation of metaverse for safety training in Nigeria. Another notable study centred on unlocking the future of construction safety: rrivers of metaverse-based training in developing economies”
“We are currently exploring the development and implementation of a metaverse platform to assess its real-world impact on construction safety training”
“Utilizing metaverse will help in achieving Sustainable Development Goals eight and nine, which address safety-related goals and contribute to the global sustainability drive as much as possible.”
Oyeyipo believes that the new technology backed by his ongoing research will greatly improve safety and significantly minimise tragedies at construction sites when fully adopted by practitioners in the Nigerian and African sectors.
