CHEMICAL ENGINEERING TRANSACTIONS
VOL. 53, 2016
A publication of
The Italian Association
of Chemical Engineering
Online at www.aidic.it/cet
Guest Editors: Valerio Cozzani, Eddy De Rademaeker, Davide Manca
Copyright © 2016, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.,
I SBN 978-88-95608-44-0; I SSN 2283-9216
Collaborative Virtual Environment for Training Teams in
Emergency Situations
Claudio Passos
a
, Salman Nazir
b
, Antonio C. A. Mol
c
Paulo V. R. Carvalho
*c
a
Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Cidade Universitária, 21941-590,
Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
b
Training and Assessment Research Group, Department of Maritime Technology and Innovation, University College of
Southeast Norway (USN), Vestfold, Borre, Norway
College, Norway
c
Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear, Rua Helio Almeida 75, Cidade Universitária, 21941-906 Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
paulov195617@gmail.com
This paper describes a Collaborative Virtual Environment (CVE) for training and assessment of collaboration
among agents who deal with radiological and nuclear emergency situations at big events. For modelling the
virtual environment we used Unity software for the land creation, and Autodesk 3ds Max for the scenery and
objects. We include in the Unity core radiation detectors and avatars. For the development of scenarios on the
approach to individuals suspected of carrying radioactive materials, we analysed practices, procedures and
the organization of radiological protection agents during events in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Results indicated
that the Collaborative Virtual Environment are suitable for training simulations in emergencies, because it was
able to represent scenarios quite close to potential emergency situations.
1. Introduction
To The recent scale and frequency of terrorist acts illustrate the increasing complexity faced by professionals
and rescuers. With the proximity of the Olympic Games in 2016, Brazil is prone to terrorist attacks. The
government and the organizations have created emergency managements to ensure normality of those
events. The objective of this research is to create a Collaborative Virtual Environment CVE for training and
assessment of collaboration in emergency prevention and response situations in major events.
The management of emergency situations at an event is a complex problem that involves dynamic situations,
which may not be easily anticipated. This emphasizes the potential complexity of the contexts in which
organizations operate and, consequently, people involved in the execution of multiple tasks, from activities
that require intense cognitive effort, often are challenged to adapt dynamically to maintain the productivity of
the organization in satisfactory levels of performance, which often prevents them from reflecting on the result
of their actions and learn from them. Emergency situations require decision-making occurring under
substantial uncertainty, because the information comes from inferences or indirect sources. As a result, it is
impossible to describe and completely how to control the system (Woods and Hollnagel, 2005). Under this
environment, organizations such as the military, nuclear emergency first responders, firefighters, among
others, have increasingly used simulation exercises to training their professionals (Voshell, 2009). This is
reflected in the search for new technologies to simulate, explore and test new forms of operations aimed at
solving difficult situations or to prevent future emergencies (Hintze, 2008). Therefore, it is important to create
tools that address the methods and techniques to assist in the prior training of security agents, for example,
the detection and approach people carrying radioactive elements.
Simulation exercises serve as imaginary future situations to explore possible responses to events (Voshell,
2009). Therefore, exercises should be planned to address the cognitive skills that must be developed to
respond an emergency situation. The purpose and scope of these exercises may include the training of
responders, providing practice opportunities in mew situations, evaluation of new technological systems,
building trust on trainees, identifying critical decisions, improving coordination, and testing the plans in the light
of new threats.
DOI: 10.3303/CET1653037
Please cite this article as: Passos C., Nazir S., Mol A.C., Carvalho P.V., 2016, Collaborative virtual environment for training teams in
emergency situations, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 53, 217-222 DOI: 10.3303/CET1653037
217