Aerial Specialist Riwal Using VR Simulators for Training Internationally
Riwal, the international aerial work platform and telehandler rental specialist, is deploying virtual reality simulators as the newest innovative solution to increase safety and efficiency when working at height. The simulators are designed to increase safety and efficiency by providing additional training for machine operators on scissor lifts and boom lifts and in a variety of high-risk scenarios, tailored to the construction industry. Each device comes equipped with a working basket for operators to stand in, virtual reality goggles and a control panel with joysticks and switches that mimic those on real machines.
Virtual reality training simulators create a controlled environment for operators to train in, lowering personal safety risks for new operators and saving significant amounts of money lost to damages of equipment and infrastructure. Also, this innovation provides operators with intermittent opportunities to refresh their training, which is particularly useful if an operator has not worked with a machine for some time but is still in the timeframe between required IPAF training. Better trained operators are then able to work more comfortably on the various machinery, increasing project efficiency.
Riwal is working with Canadian developer Serious Labs on expanding the virtual reality environments offered to include scenarios that are useful for other industries, such as aviation. Currently, Riwal has six virtual reality simulators that are distributed across the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, Kazakhstan, and the United Arab Emirates. The VR simulators will be used in the Riwal training centers as well as on customer sites.
“Riwal is proud to be offering our customers cutting-edge solutions to increase safety and efficiency, such as the virtual reality simulators,” said Pedro Torres, Riwal chief operating officer. “Safety is of paramount importance to us, and we will continue to seek new opportunities and innovations to make working at height as safe as possible. We are confident that the VR simulators will reduce the cost of renting and operating machines for our customers.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.