Interactive Learning in Safety: How Serious Game Can Enhance Retention and Collaboration

Training employees on critical safety protocols is a challenge in many industries, with traditional methods often resulting in disengagement and poor retention. Gamification offers a promising alternative by using game mechanics to foster active participation, thereby enhancing memory retention and learning outcomes. This communication explores the theoretical foundations of gamification in training, focusing on its ability to create immersive, interactive learning environments that stimulate motivation and engagement. However, applying gamification to safety raises important questions about balancing entertainment with the gravity of the content. Are playful elements compatible with the responsibility of ensuring employee safety? To address this, we propose a concrete experiment: a low-tech orienteering-based training for Second Intervention Teams (ESI) in an industrial setting. The gamified training integrates fire safety challenges into a real-world navigation task, prompting participants to recall safety procedures while working together to achieve goals. After a first full-scale experimentation, observations and debriefing with the trainees shows that this approach improves engagement, teamwork, and safety protocol retention. However, the experiment also highlights the limitations of gamification, particularly the need for careful design to prevent trivializing serious safety content. This study concludes by reflecting on the conditions under which gamification can serve as an effective complement to traditional safety training, without compromising the importance and seriousness of the subject matter.

Keywords: Gamification, Safety, Training, Engagement, Risk education, Experiential learning.