RMIT University has unveiled a new OHS game at its inaugural Games for Change Festival in Melbourne.

 

The new Tower Trouble game will be used to teach students about health and safety practices in the construction industry by allowing them to experiment with workplace hazards and experiencing the physical reprecussions.

 

Dr Stefan Greuter, Associate Dean of Games and Animation in RMIT's School of Media and Communication, said high injury and incident rates were a concern in the construction industry.

 

"One of the key challenges for occupational health and safety training is to engage learners," Dr Greuter said.

 

"Serious games are promising vehicles for motivating learners to engage with concepts they may consider boring, and can also help enhance retention.

 

"Any process that can help reduce the costs associated with workplace injuries and fatalities in a construction environment will contribute to a sustainable future and will make our graduates more desirable in construction workplaces."

 

The Trouble Tower project is a transdisciplinary collaboration supported by RMIT's Games and Experimental Entertainment Laboratory (GEElab), host of the Games for Change Festival.

 

Trouble Tower has been developed for iPad2 and 3, PC and Mac, and will be available free for download online and from the Apple App store in late November. It is expected to be introduced in RMIT classes in early 2013.