AK Preparedness has this week announced that CommonWealth Partners, a privately-owned real estate investment, development, and management organization, has announced that its Pier 4 property is the first of its multi-tenant office buildings in Boston, US to use virtual reality (VR) to conduct fire drills. With many people working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, CommonWeath Partners has opted to deploy VR technology to help ensure all occupants know how to respond in an emergency whenever they are in the office.
Developed by AK Preparedness, a Seattle-based emergency preparedness and life safety company, the new ‘SafetyNetVR’ solution involves creating a photo-realistic 3D model of a building’s interior and then embedding information about stairwells and life safety equipment.
According to the company, Web VR fire drills allow building occupants to use their smartphones, tablets or desktop computers to explore their surroundings, locate stairwells and fire extinguishers, and exit the building. As users navigate their building throughout the VR experience, they can learn how to use a fire extinguisher or emergency phones, find out what happens when the building goes into alarm, and receive video-based instruction from a firefighter. They can also learn about responding to a wide range of other emergencies.
AK Preparedness added that the value of VR fire drills will also extend far beyond the COVID-19 situation; enabling building tenants to train their employees on emergency practices at any time, rather than waiting for periodic in-person training, which may only occur once a year.
AK Preparedness is a national provider of emergency preparedness planning, training, and technology solutions that works with residential and commercial real estate clients, corporations, and government organizations to help reduce risk through more effective life safety programs. The company provides emergency response plan development, online and mobile emergency response tools, live training and drills, tabletop exercises, life safety training videos, and other services. For more information on AK Preparedness, please click here.
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