10
community’s ability and resources to train. Therefore, it is
critical that the community take advantage of the current
technological boom. The commercial investment in the
hardware and software for immersive training as a result
of the COVID-19 pandemic has made this technology
more ubiquitous and accessible than ever. To prepare for
future critical incidents, mining companies may consider
adopting a holistic VR training strategy that is expandable
and adaptable to meet emergent training needs rather than
commissioning trainings one at a time. As described in
the background, one-off trainings are typically limited in
content and may use incompatible hardware and software,
resulting in an inefficient use of the already scarce training
resources. The developers of VR-MRT also tried to address
this concern. The flexibility of VR-MRT described in the
innovation section makes it well suited to address far more
than mine rescue, and using VR-MRT for multiple training
applications give it a higher potential return on investment.
Inner Setting: Will this intervention fit the system?
Given this pre-implementation interview study was not
site-specific, it is not surprising that responses to questions
related to the Inner Setting varied widely among respon-
dents (Table 6). Individual mine rescue trainers were more
likely to point to lack of Resources such as equipment and
funding as barriers to adoption, while the organization
participants reported that access to Resources was of less
concern. As discussed previously, NIOSH chose to design
the system with low-cost commercially available hardware
to reduce the costs, and the VR-MRT software will be free
when released.
During the interviews, participants from the organiza-
tion focused on issues of prioritization and action. They
emphasized deficiencies in the Work Infrastructure (e.g.,
lack of dedicated personnel, procurement red tape), IT
Infrastructure (e.g., lack of expertise, IT procurement red
tape), Physical Infrastructure (e.g., space, set-up configu-
ration), Communications (e.g., lack of transparency), and
Relative Priority (e.g., time to take actions). As one par-
ticipant put it, leaders talked a lot, but “you have to walk
the walk.” While VR training was very attractive to this
organization, the employees felt there was no clear path
forward. They lacked clarity about the next steps largely
because the organization was not set up to easily support a
technology-heavy innovation, and for them organizational
change is difficult (e.g., hiring, reallocation of space, pur-
chasing). Researchers plan to study the implementation
process further at various sites to better understand if this
is a challenge across the industry. One possible solution to
these barriers is following an implementation model such as
proposed by Endsley [55]. Using this model, an organiza-
tion would intentionally step through the implementation
process in a logical and open way, where feedback is con-
tinually sought and integrated in the change management
process. Another possible solution would be to identify and
empower an organizational change champion—“a person
at any level of the organization who is skilled at initiating,
facilitating, and implementing change” [56].
Common across all participants were concerns about
having Access to Knowledge and Information. This per-
tains to a stated need for support from NIOSH throughout
the implementation process, specifically system-user guid-
ance and train-the-trainer as well as establishing lines of
communication for support. As a part of NIOSH’s future
implementation research, researchers plan to take an active
role in the planning and execution of implementation
strategies at individual sites willing to adopt the platform.
As a part of the study, researchers will offer ongoing sup-
port while evaluating the process from pre-implementation
through maintenance. These initial implementation efforts
will further inform future efforts and the development
of supporting documentation and software updates until
NIOSH support becomes less critical to successful imple-
mentation. As VR-MRT becomes more widely available, it
is possible that NIOSH or other entities could offer train-
ing sessions in central locations such as a mine rescue con-
test. Another possibility is that a group(s) implements the
platform in existing regional training facilities open to all
teams enabling resources and expertise to be widely shared.
Individuals: Do they have the will and the skill to
deliver?
If individuals will not or cannot implement an interven-
tion, the design, pressures, and fit are irrelevant—and it
will fail. Despite some concerns related to lack of IT per-
sonnel earlier, most participants focused on a lack of will to
implement VR-MRT as can be seen in Table 7. Concerns
related to Individual Buy-In spanned across all organiza-
tional levels including High-Level Leaders, Mid-Level
Leaders, Implementation Leads, Innovation Deliverers,
Implementation Team Members, and Innovation
Recipients. Individual mine rescue team trainers only iden-
tified High-Level Leaders’ (i.e., Corporate) support as an
issue. Organizational participants were far more mixed in
their responses. In general, there was an impression that
High- and Mid-Level Leaders were bought-in to VR train-
ing, but only about 50% of the Deliverers were bought-in.
There were also concerns that the Recipients would be hesi-
tant to try it.
community’s ability and resources to train. Therefore, it is
critical that the community take advantage of the current
technological boom. The commercial investment in the
hardware and software for immersive training as a result
of the COVID-19 pandemic has made this technology
more ubiquitous and accessible than ever. To prepare for
future critical incidents, mining companies may consider
adopting a holistic VR training strategy that is expandable
and adaptable to meet emergent training needs rather than
commissioning trainings one at a time. As described in
the background, one-off trainings are typically limited in
content and may use incompatible hardware and software,
resulting in an inefficient use of the already scarce training
resources. The developers of VR-MRT also tried to address
this concern. The flexibility of VR-MRT described in the
innovation section makes it well suited to address far more
than mine rescue, and using VR-MRT for multiple training
applications give it a higher potential return on investment.
Inner Setting: Will this intervention fit the system?
Given this pre-implementation interview study was not
site-specific, it is not surprising that responses to questions
related to the Inner Setting varied widely among respon-
dents (Table 6). Individual mine rescue trainers were more
likely to point to lack of Resources such as equipment and
funding as barriers to adoption, while the organization
participants reported that access to Resources was of less
concern. As discussed previously, NIOSH chose to design
the system with low-cost commercially available hardware
to reduce the costs, and the VR-MRT software will be free
when released.
During the interviews, participants from the organiza-
tion focused on issues of prioritization and action. They
emphasized deficiencies in the Work Infrastructure (e.g.,
lack of dedicated personnel, procurement red tape), IT
Infrastructure (e.g., lack of expertise, IT procurement red
tape), Physical Infrastructure (e.g., space, set-up configu-
ration), Communications (e.g., lack of transparency), and
Relative Priority (e.g., time to take actions). As one par-
ticipant put it, leaders talked a lot, but “you have to walk
the walk.” While VR training was very attractive to this
organization, the employees felt there was no clear path
forward. They lacked clarity about the next steps largely
because the organization was not set up to easily support a
technology-heavy innovation, and for them organizational
change is difficult (e.g., hiring, reallocation of space, pur-
chasing). Researchers plan to study the implementation
process further at various sites to better understand if this
is a challenge across the industry. One possible solution to
these barriers is following an implementation model such as
proposed by Endsley [55]. Using this model, an organiza-
tion would intentionally step through the implementation
process in a logical and open way, where feedback is con-
tinually sought and integrated in the change management
process. Another possible solution would be to identify and
empower an organizational change champion—“a person
at any level of the organization who is skilled at initiating,
facilitating, and implementing change” [56].
Common across all participants were concerns about
having Access to Knowledge and Information. This per-
tains to a stated need for support from NIOSH throughout
the implementation process, specifically system-user guid-
ance and train-the-trainer as well as establishing lines of
communication for support. As a part of NIOSH’s future
implementation research, researchers plan to take an active
role in the planning and execution of implementation
strategies at individual sites willing to adopt the platform.
As a part of the study, researchers will offer ongoing sup-
port while evaluating the process from pre-implementation
through maintenance. These initial implementation efforts
will further inform future efforts and the development
of supporting documentation and software updates until
NIOSH support becomes less critical to successful imple-
mentation. As VR-MRT becomes more widely available, it
is possible that NIOSH or other entities could offer train-
ing sessions in central locations such as a mine rescue con-
test. Another possibility is that a group(s) implements the
platform in existing regional training facilities open to all
teams enabling resources and expertise to be widely shared.
Individuals: Do they have the will and the skill to
deliver?
If individuals will not or cannot implement an interven-
tion, the design, pressures, and fit are irrelevant—and it
will fail. Despite some concerns related to lack of IT per-
sonnel earlier, most participants focused on a lack of will to
implement VR-MRT as can be seen in Table 7. Concerns
related to Individual Buy-In spanned across all organiza-
tional levels including High-Level Leaders, Mid-Level
Leaders, Implementation Leads, Innovation Deliverers,
Implementation Team Members, and Innovation
Recipients. Individual mine rescue team trainers only iden-
tified High-Level Leaders’ (i.e., Corporate) support as an
issue. Organizational participants were far more mixed in
their responses. In general, there was an impression that
High- and Mid-Level Leaders were bought-in to VR train-
ing, but only about 50% of the Deliverers were bought-in.
There were also concerns that the Recipients would be hesi-
tant to try it.