MSA Safety has transformed its business with the use of virtual reality (VR), offering customers the chance to experience products in an immersive environment without any risk.

The company collaborated with immersive technology specialists, Render, to develop VR to showcase its fall protection products in an innovative way.

Evelyn Webb, MSA's Customer Marketing Communications Manager, explained: "VR has undoubtedly been a gamechanger for MSA. It offers a new and innovative way to convey our suite of products to customers and transforms sales meetings. We’ve been using these technologies at trade shows and in presentations, with fantastic customer engagement and feedback."

Render's Chief Executive, Mark Miles, added: "You're not just seeing and hearing, you're feeling. An immersive narrative gives customers the full sensory experience.

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"In the VR construction experience that Render and MSA have developed, users climb up to a virtual rooftop, using a controller to 'clip on' at every step before they reach the rooftop to carry out vital maintenance. By enabling customers to literally experience the products for themselves in a life-like hazardous environment, MSA can communicate the value of its products in seconds."

After selecting their choice of language for the simulation, users then select the correct equipment for working at height, including a full body harness and a personal fall limiter (PFL). After clipping on and scaling a ladder to the roof of a commercial unit, the user is required to remove an inspection cover from an air-conditioning unit. The worker is in a fall arrest position and the VR user virtually 'falls' backwards over the edge of the roof. MSA's Latchways fall protection system successfully arrests the fall before gently lowering the user to the ground.

The experience can be updated to feature new products, different working scenarios and additional instruction languages. A simulation for the oil and gas and aviation sectors has also been launched, offering a representative application.

The scenarios can be accessed through HTC VIVE® headsets or through a mobile app on both iOS and Android.

(CM/MH)