UrBC, Yekaterinburg, January 16, 2020. EVRAZ Holding keeps introducing new techniques of industrial safety training at its Urals-based member enterprises.

According to the company’s press service, EVRAZ Nizhniy Tagil Integrated Metallurgical Plant and EVRAZ Kachkanarsky Ore Mining & Metallurgical Enterprise are now using a VR firefighting simulator and two ranges for steeplejack operations. Up to 5,000 employees of EVRAZ Holding Ural and of the contractor companies will be able to use the new facilities for practical training.

‘EVRAZ directed some RUB 5m for the new equipment. The VR simulator is used at fire safety workshops for drilling: an employee puts on a 3D helmet and finds themselves inside a virtual reality environment: an office or a production site where fire broke out. The student has two joysticks to perform the necessary actions in the event of smoke and burning solids/fuel/electrical appliances: move around, pick up objects, and rescue unconscious people. It usually takes ten minutes to complete one task. The simulator records every action so that the student can go back and correct everything.

The steeplejack operation ranges were introduced at EVRAZ sites in Nizhniy Tagil and Kachkanar. Every range consists of several sections: stairs, cornices, slanted roofs, stormwater collectors, and so on. The appliances are meant to get used by the workers operating at the height of 1.8+ meters. They learn how to use safety slings, perform roof dismantling operations, and lift and rescue potential victims,’ the press service says.