- Department:Hazard Control Division
Attachment to Press Release 20230905 - Director General Hsieh Yein-Rui(3rd from left), Industrial Technology Research Institute Deputy Director Cheng Ming-Shan (1st from left), Deputy Director General Chien Hui-Chen (2nd from left), Division Chief Ni (2nd from right), and Section Chief Hsu (1st from right) pictured with the visualization simulation training module.
In order to strengthen the toxic chemical disaster prevention and preparation, the Chemicals Administration of the Ministry of Environment for the first time to introduce the virtual reality integration of chemical disaster all-round training, and cooperate with the Industrial Technology Research Institute to create a "visualization simulation training module" and "virtual reality training module" to extended reality training module, with two sets of modules totaling 20 types of response training and 30 teaching and training courses. By installing the module on the mobile vehicle, the Administration breaks through the venue limitation and can provide the industry with professional training and testing on the field of response to toxic chemical substances disasters, so as to enhance the enterprises’ ability to cope with hazardous chemical substance disasters.
According to Director General Hsieh Yein-Rui, more than 4,400 enterprises in Taiwan are involved in the operation of toxic and hazardous chemicals, which requires the cooperation of public and private sectors in disaster prevention and preparation. At present, there are 2 centers for consultation and monitoring and 10 teams of professional response technical groups for toxic chemical substances disasters, with a total of 194 professionals on guard, on call 24 hours a day to provide consultation and dispatch professionals to arrive at the site within one hour after the occurrence of a toxic chemical substances disaster, in conjunction with the fire department and the professional response personnel of the enterprises in the first line to properly carry out the initial treatment, which is the key to the slowing down of the incidence of toxic chemical substances disasters in the past two years. As of July this year, there are 5,521 professional response personnel to be registered according to the law, and 12,771 of them have completed the training so far.
The Chemicals Administration of the Ministry of Environment, in cooperation with the Industrial Technology Research Institute, utilizes simulation training and virtual reality technology to build a training database of past domestic toxic chemical substances disasters. In order to ensure the enterprises' ability to respond to emergencies and learning from real-life situations, the simulation training module adopts 3D printing and other technologies to imitate the valves and pipelines commonly used in industrial processes. Through the customized transparent pipelines and valves, the trainees can understand their operation mechanism and observe the flow of gas and liquid immediately, simulating various chemical gas dispersion or liquid spattering when the pipeline leakage is caused by different pressures.
The "Virtual Reality Training Module" and "Extended Reality Training Module", which apply the latest technologies such as MR, AR, and VR, have been under planning and development since 2020, and have been gradually implemented in the training of public sectors in 2022. The "Virtual Reality Training Module" includes a variety of different accident scenarios such as technology factories, petrochemical plants, warehouses, and transportation, introducing fire, explosion, and pipeline leakage scenarios, and the multiple scenarios can be interactively combined to closely match the actual accidents. Industrial Technology Research Institute emphasizes that in order to make the training more immersive, it has specifically researched and developed glove-shaped hand motion sensors to replace the commonly used VR handles, increasing the sense of touch and body, and has made the computer equipment into a self-contained breathing apparatus for trainees to actually carry on their backs, all for the purpose of giving the trainees a vivid sense of immediacy at the scene of a disaster.
In addition, the "Extended Reality Training Module" is designed to allow commanders and first-line response personnel to participate jointly in a virtual reality of a disaster, so that the trainees can interact with each other, simulate the practical operation of the technology, and accumulate the knowledge and capacity of the disaster response to achieve effective team integration training. According to Industrial Technology Research Institute, instructors can use this technology to assist them in analyzing each procedure in detail and reviewing the performance of the drill in order to enhance the results of the training.
The Chemicals Administration indicates that, in response to the organization reform, the toxic chemical substances disaster response training course, which was originally designed for toxic chemical listed manufacturers, government agencies, and professional and technical groups, has also been applied to hazardous chemical substance operation enterprises (e.g., technology factories, petrochemical plants, and warehouses, etc.). It is estimated that at least 30 training courses with 2,000 participants annually will be conducted, and the Administration will also expand awareness during national, county, and municipal toxic and chemical substances disaster drills, National Disaster Prevention Day, as well as during large-scale events. The Administration combines industry, government, and academia to enhance the disaster prevention and rescue capabilities of toxic chemical substances and hazardous chemical substances, and adheres to the attitude of "prevention and preparation" to continuously improve the domestic chemical disaster professional response training capacity to safeguard the lives and properties of the people.
According to Hsieh Yein-Rui, the two sets of modules have a total of 20 types of response training and 30 teaching and training courses, not only for the training organization, but also will be set up on the vehicle, breaking through the venue limitation, providing the enterprises with mobile professional training in the field of disaster response, so that the training will be strengthened. In the future, these two sets of modules may also be added to consulting visits and tests without advance notice, in order to enhance the skills of professional response personnel.
