Do you know what to do if an active shooter enters your workplace? Virtual reality can help
CORAL GABLES — When an armed shooter enters a store, there is little time to react.
But a virtual reality program that mimics actual workplaces is training employees to think quickly and save lives.
The founding director of Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Jeremy Bailenson, discussed the applications of virtual and augmented technology as keynote speaker for the University of Miami’s first Miami XR conference last Friday.
“The (active shooter) simulation allows them to practice decision-making, hiding, escaping, or responding to threats in a safe, controlled setting,” Bailenson said. “By interacting with the scenario in real time, they develop muscle memory and situational awareness, improving their ability to react under stress.”
Bailenson co-founded the company Strivr to implement VR training in the workplace. His product Armed Attack has been used by hundreds of thousands of people at companies such as Verizon, Bank of America and Walmart. Most corporations are involved in developing a custom simulation, modeling the digital backdrops after real locations.
“One incredible feature of the training is to track the eye gaze of the trainee. For example, if training calls for ‘no eye contact’ with the shooter, we can detect instances of eye contact during training, and adjust the feedback to remind the trainee of how to improve,” Bailenson said.
The tension that is created through a VR event is difficult to reproduce with just PowerPoint training or role play.
“When you experience it inside of VR, the empathy that you feel and understanding goes way up. And we have statistical numbers to understand that’s the case as opposed to just reading about it from afar,” said Tom Merrick, senior project manager of VR and AR initiatives at UM. Merrick played a lead role in organizing the Miami XR conference.
Armed Attack offers hands-on, repeatable drills such as searching for hiding spots and selecting office objects that could be used for self-defense. The simulations run on Stivr’s learning platform, which can be downloaded onto any headset such as the Oculus.
In 2019, 23 people were killed during a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas. Prior to the incident, employees had practiced with Strivr’s active shooter training.
“Walmart CEO Doug McMillon noted that this training was instrumental in helping employees make quick decisions during the crisis, which contributed to saving lives,” Bailenson said.
Armed Attack is the evolution of a decade of research at Strivr. VR works effectively for spatial events, where action is happening all around someone’s point of view.
“Strivr got started by training quarterbacks in VR to allow them to get more mental reps off the field, on demand. This helped them avoid the extra wear and tear on their bodies that might happen if they had to replicate the practice on the field, and eliminated the need for even being on the practice field at all,” said Kristi Rawlinson, vice president of marketing at Strivr.
In the future, it is possible for VR training to help teachers with protecting children during an attempted school shooting.
“To put teachers through (active shooter training) for the same reason, to understand roles and training because they may have been through that scenario before, it would absolutely help from a safety perspective,” Merrick said.