Safety is fundamental to how Shell does business. And innovation is a powerful tool to unlock new ways of doing business. This year, Shell LiveWIRE France combined the two by bringing in one of their entrepreneurs to participate in Shell’s Safety Day.

As part of Shell’s Safety Day on 24 March, Shell France invited Immersive Factory to provide an interactive health, safety, security and environment (HSSE) training at its factory in Nanterre, France. Supported by Shell LiveWIRE France, Immersive Factory uses virtual reality to develop an active learning approach to HSSE.

“Our exercises are based on real situations and benefit from the active pedagogy approach: thanks to virtual reality the learner becomes the main actor in his HSE training,” said Bertrand Pierre, Immersive Factory Founder. “We remember better what we experience but even better what we feel, perfectly reflects our vision of learning.”

During the Safety Day event, Immersive Factory gave 120 Shell employees a chance to experience this solution first hand. Factory employees put on the headset and then had 10 minutes to walk around a virtual warehouse and identify as many safety risks as possible. Was there some oil spilled on the ground? Are hazardous products properly stocked in the warehouse? By going through this test in a familiar but virtual environment, factory employees could practise identifying and responding to workplace hazards in a risk-free way.

“The experience was a big success!” said Frédéric Cherasco, HSSE Advisor at Nanterre. “The discovery of this new media, its immersion power and its impact on the memorization of the HSE situations ‘lived’ in three dimensions have convinced everyone. One of our partners EIFFAGE/Clemessy will duplicate the experience on their own HSSE trainings.”

This year’s Safety Day event was one of four tests organized by Shell LiveWIRE France to bring an entrepreneur in front of the wider Shell network. Earlier this year, Immersive Factory demonstrated its solution with the global DS Soil and Groundwater team and during Retailers Engagement Day, Shell France Retail Team seminar. Shell LiveWIRE France also brought Immersive Factory and four other entrepreneurs – Carfit, Energiestro, Singulair, and Ermeo – to the Shell yearly Business Plan Cascade. During this business event, Shell staff had the opportunity to meet with the five start-ups and learn more about their solutions.

“One of the main goals of the program LiveWIRE in France is to acculturate Shell to innovation and agility,” said Louis Steyert, LiveWIRE France Program Manager. “We make a point in enabling as many Shell employees as possible to engage directly with entrepreneurs and be inspired by new ideas and ways of working.”

Looking ahead, Shell LiveWIRE France and Immersive Factory continue to explore ways they can partner together. To learn more about Immersive Factory, please visit their website.