VIRTUAL REALITY TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES IN FOREST-BASED SMES AS A PART OF A CRISIS MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

Science and manufacturing have always been a generator and conduit of innovations in every field of human life. The innovations are of both fundamental and purely applied nature. The first environment for testing these innovations is the internal firm's educational system. In this regard, the last two years circumstances around the pandemic of COVID-19 served as a catalyst for the training in companies to adopt contemporary, interactive and attractive methods of training processes. Of course, some of these methods have been used in the pre-pandemic environment, but they have not been widespread. This confirms the rule related to a crisis management, namely that any crisis must be seen not only as a threat, but also as an opportunity to master new approaches and to show their effectiveness in practice. The aim of this paper is to focus on the possibilities of using virtual reality in training employees in forest-based SMEs such as specific manufacturing procedures, healthy work condition, organization of manufacturing etc. A number of research methods will be used. These will include literature research, retrospective analysis, method of comparison etc. © 2022 15th International Scientific Conference WoodEMA 2022 - Crisis Management and Safety Foresight in Forest-Based Sector and SMES Operating in the Global Environment. All rights reserved.