Mining Industry Skills Centre announce the landing of Project Canary

21 October 2008

Imagine a mine site with zero harm to employees.

An industry first serious games-based simulation training tool was launched recently at the Mining Industry Skills Centre’s Conference that will help to make this a reality.

PROJECT CANARY has been developed in collaboration with simulation experts, QinetiQ, and is a learning technology tool that enables users to truly apply the skills of risk assessment while encouraging behavioural change around safe working practices.

PROJECT CANARY is a unique initiative for the resources industry and is capable of placing individuals into current workplace scenarios involved with coal and metalliferous surface mining, as well as coal underground mining, with plans to develop metalliferous underground, quarrying and drilling environments.

Mining Industry Skills Centre CEO Derek Hunter believes PROJECT CANARY is the future for training in the resources industry.

“The program is cutting edge because it focuses on the best type of adult learning methodologies,” said Mr Hunter.

“PROJECT CANARY is the biggest development in risk minimization in the history of mine safety training.

“The game engine provides a virtual world where individuals can explore and understand how and why risk exists.”

The principles used in the development of PROJECT CANARY have already been tried and deemed as a successful training tool by the Australian Army who used a serious game-based simulation training tool called Virtual Battle Space 2, which effectively prepared Australian soldiers for battle in foreign terrain.

Another inimitable aspect to this training tool is that the worlds used can be contextualized to individual sites currently operating in Australia.

PROJECT CANARY has been developed for the industry and will be available for general use from January 2009.