Towards Sustainable Health and Safety in Mining: Evaluating the Psychophysical Impact of VR-Based Training

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

This manuscript presents an empirical evaluation of the psychophysical impacts of VR-based training in the mining sector, aligned with sustainable development goals. The authors assess user well-being, adaptation time, and physical tolerance to a 50-minute immersive training session developed through a multi-institutional collaboration. Drawing from surveys and trainer observation sheets involving 69 participants, the study concludes that VR training poses minimal physical discomfort, supports immersive engagement, and aligns with SDG targets like health, innovation, and safety. While the topic is timely and important, the paper would benefit significantly from revisions to strengthen its methodological rigor, narrative cohesion, and scholarly contribution.

The study is well-established, however, I have some comments which would enhance the study quality:

• Consider rephrasing the abstract to highlight statistical outcomes (e.g., % of users with complaints).

In the introduction

• Add a paragraph explicitly identifying the research gap (e.g., "Few studies have empirically evaluated psychophysical impacts of VR training in hazardous industries").

• Include theoretical references on human-computer interaction, VR adaptation, or ergonomics to frame the issue conceptually.

Literature Review and Framing

• • Merge related paragraphs to avoid redundancy.

  • Include a subsection titled "Related Work" or "Theoretical Background".

  • Compare your VR training setup with those in aviation, healthcare, and other industrial contexts.

  • Integrate more recent scholarly articles beyond self-citations (e.g., 2023–2025 publications), for example:

    • Al-Kfairy, M., Alrabaee, S., Alfandi, O., Mohamed, A.T. and Khaddaj, S., 2025. Navigating Ethical Dimensions in the Metaverse: Challenges, Frameworks, and Solutions. IEEE Access.
    • Pireddu, A., Innocenti, A., Lusuardi, L.M., Santalucia, V. and Simeoni, C., 2025. The Impact and Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Applied to the Safety Training of Workers in Open-Cast Mining. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 22(2), p.151.
    • and many more

Methods

• Clearly define the sampling strategy (Was it convenience sampling?).

• Detail inclusion/exclusion criteria.

• Elaborate on the survey instrument: How was it validated? Were scales adapted from prior research?

• For trainer observation sheets: who filled them? Were they trained coders?

• Present a summary table for participant demographics and baseline characteristics.

Results

• The association between gaming experience and fatigue (Figure 8) needs statistical confirmation (e.g., p-values or effect size).

• Consolidate figures and include more textual analysis of the patterns.

• Discuss implications of symptoms like dizziness and hallucinations in more detail — even if rare, they are critical in safety contexts.

Discussion

• Compare your findings to similar VR studies in mining or other hazardous industries.

• Reflect critically on design aspects of your VR system that may have influenced user discomfort or adaptation.

• Discuss implications for practice, such as VR design improvements, duration recommendations, and pre-training acclimation protocols.

 

Good Luck

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your review, we have improved our article, we have taken into account all the comments, they were a valuable source for us. We attach a file with our answers. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The paper is a case study on the psychophysical effects of training through the use of VR applications in the mining industry. The motivation for implementing VR applications in the training of underground miners is to mitigate risks and hazards to the health and safety of employees. The paper is relevant and topical and highlights the implications that new and high technology could have for improving health and safety at work and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. This paper presents the results of the research carried out in a larger project carried out by JSW Nowe Projekty S.A., Główny Instytut Górnictwa – Państwowy Instytut Badawczy (Katowice), and JSW Szkolenie i Górnictwo Sp. z o.o. at Jastrzębska Spółka Węglowa Capital Group.

The work is well organized, documented, and relevant to the field's research. However, there are some small suggestions and observations:

The Introduction section should highlight the novelty of the research.

Section 4. Results of a survey may be useful to include the following information:

1.              A table with descriptive statistics

2.              The period in which the VR application trainings took place

3.              Considering the high share of employees with higher education (almost two-thirds), perhaps it would be useful to present the positions/jobs that employees occupy. Do they all work underground?

4.              How much do the 69 employees out of the total employees employed underground at the company where the case study was carried out represent?

5.              How many trainers were involved, or how many employees were assigned to a trainer?

6.              Did all 69 employees follow the same training program?

7.              What training program did they follow? It seems that there is a program for labor protection, but it is not very clear.

8.              How did the 9 minutes needed to adapt to the VR environment come about, a result related to Os3 and Q6?

9.              How do these results compare to other similar research with VR applications in the mining industry and other industries? Alternatively, consider studies that have employed high-tech applications apart from VR.

Include the practical/managerial implications and limitations of the research in Section 5, Conclusions.

Author Response

Dear reviewer, thank you very much for your review, we have improved our article, we have taken into account all the comments, they were a valuable source for us. We attach a file with our answers. 

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Happy to accept