Improving the effectiveness of a water utility’s training through Virtual Reality

To prepare for AMP 7, the seventh Asset Management Period planned by the UK water industry running from 2020-25, one of the UK’s largest providers of water and wastewater services set-up a new technical training academy to improve the knowledge and skills of its operatives.

As part of its vision for the academy, the utility wanted to enhance the effectiveness of its training programmes. The company commissioned Enzen to develop a state-of-the-art solution which could deliver value, impact and improve the training experience for employees.

Working in partnership with a digital creative agency, Enzen designed a proof-of-concept in just six weeks for a training module based on immersive, Virtual Reality (VR) technology.

The solution simulated the step-by-step procedures a water utility field operative would need to follow for the chemical dosing (chlorination) stage of the water treatment process, complete with in-built health and safety messages during training.

With access to a 3D version of a plant created in VR, the trainees learned new skills effectively without the additional cost, downtime and complexity of learning at a real, operational plant.

When the customer tested the effectiveness of the training, the analysis showed that VR training had achieved a tangible improvement on more orthodox training, especially in terms of operatives' ability to recall content.

The concept was presented to the customer’s leadership team with a view to rolling out more VR-based solutions across the business. Enzen were subsequently asked to deliver a full training module because of the proof-of-concept’s success.