Immersive escape room gamification: transportation hazmat incident (ierg)

Ended Project Grant Awarded

Award ID
R43ES037511
Recipient
Awarding agency
Obligated
$99,683

Award facts

Assistance listing
93.142 NIEHS Hazardous Waste Worker Health and Safety Training
Completion date
Place of performance
Maryland, USA

Award details come from USAspending.gov.

Description

As the agency reported it.

Abstract
The transportation industry faces significant risk to health, safety and property during the shipping, handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials (hazmat). The united states transports approximately one million shipments of hazardous materials daily, accounting for about 12% of the country's total freight tonnage (U.S. Department of transportation, 2022). If not handled properly, exposure to hazardous materials can cause harm to the human health and the environment, resulting in respiratory issues, skin irritation, and even death. Strict protocols, adequate training, and proper safety gear are essential for minimizing risk when working with and around hazardous materials. Traditional training methods often fail to engage workers or adequately prepare them for real-world scenarios. Additionally, hispanic workers are disproportionately impacted from occupational exposure to chemicals resulting in injuries and fatalities. To address this critical need to improve workplace safety with innovative methods, we propose the development of: interactive escape room gamification: transportation incident (ierg), an awareness level training program utilizing an immersive educational escape room formatted in both english and spanish, bridging the language barrier and ensuring that more workers have access to vital safety information and training. Ierg is a virtual escape room, scenario-based experience in which learners are challenged to locate clues, solve puzzles, and accomplish tasks while racing against the clock to safely escape a hazmat situation. This unique approach combines the thrill of an escape room with rigorous hazmat training, creating an engaging and effective learning environment. This simulated escape room transforms a complex hazmat situation into a game-based learning training program. Game-based learning improves the quality of the educational process through motivational interaction (cordova & lepper, 1996) with educational escape rooms in particular showing positive learner outcomes, perceptions, and engagement eukel & morrell, 2021). Ierg will be designed to simulate a realistic awareness-level hazmat situation, requiring users to apply their knowledge and skills to solve puzzles, make decisions, and successfully escape the hazmat scenario. The interactive nature of the escape room enhances retention and understanding of hazmat protocols, while also fostering teamwork and communication skills among participants. The prototype will include a detailed scenario of a hazmat incident in both english and spanish, tailored to the specific needs of transportation and warehouse workers. We will collaborate with the freight division of the international brotherhood of teamsters (IBT), transportation experts and safety professionals to ensure the training is both accurate and thoughtfully designed to meet educational objectives and enhance the overall safety and preparedness of transportation workers when faced with a hazmat situation.

Quick answers

Who received award R43ES037511?

R43ES037511 was awarded to Metamedia Training International, Inc. by National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (National Institutes of Health) on July 17, 2025.

How much is award R43ES037511 worth?

$99,683 has been obligated on R43ES037511.

On GovTribe

See this award's full record

  • Every transaction and subaward
  • The recipient's other awards and teaming partners
  • Similar grant awards
  • Ask GovTribe AI about this award
Try for free Login