There’s plenty of talk about VR training transforming the workplace, but the more useful question for Australian businesses is: who’s actually doing it, and is it working? After speaking with several organisations running VR training programs, here’s what the landscape actually looks like.

Mining and Resources: The Early Movers

Australia’s mining sector was among the first to adopt VR training at scale, and for good reason. Underground mining training is expensive, dangerous, and logistically difficult. Simulating those environments in VR solves real problems.

BHP has been running VR safety training across multiple Australian sites since 2022, using custom-built simulations for hazard identification and emergency response. Their internal reporting suggests a 40% reduction in safety incidents among workers who completed VR training modules compared to traditional classroom instruction.

Rio Tinto has taken a similar approach, partnering with Brisbane-based VR developer Sentient Computing to build training scenarios for their Pilbara operations. The focus has been on vehicle interaction training and confined space procedures — both areas where real-world practice carries genuine risk.

Fortescue Metals has invested in VR onboarding for new site workers, compressing what was previously a two-day induction into a more effective half-day program that combines VR scenarios with in-person briefings.

Healthcare: Growing Steadily

The healthcare sector in Australia is where VR training has seen the most interesting growth over the past 18 months.

The Royal Melbourne Hospital runs a surgical simulation program using Osso VR, allowing surgical registrars to practice procedures in a risk-free environment. Early feedback from the program indicates that trainees who used VR simulation felt significantly more confident during their first real procedures.

Monash University has integrated VR into its nursing curriculum, using custom scenarios to train students in patient assessment and critical care decision-making. The university reports that students who trained with VR scored consistently higher on practical assessments.

St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney has piloted VR for mental health training, using simulated patient interactions to help clinicians practice de-escalation techniques and empathetic communication.

Defence: Serious Investment

The Australian Defence Force has been investing in VR training through its Simulation and Training division, though much of the detail remains classified. What’s publicly known is that the ADF uses VR for:

• Vehicle crew training for Boxer CRV crews
• Combat first aid procedures
• Cultural awareness training for deployment preparation
• Mission rehearsal for specific operational environments

The Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG) has also been funding research into haptic feedback systems for VR training, working with researchers at the University of Adelaide to improve the physical realism of simulated environments.

The Platforms Being Used

Australian enterprises are typically running on a handful of platforms:

STRIVR — Used primarily by larger corporates for soft skills training and safety scenarios. Woolworths has piloted STRIVR for customer service training in select stores.

Immerse — Popular with mid-size organisations looking for a managed VR training platform. Several Australian logistics companies use Immerse for warehouse safety training.

Custom-built solutions — Many of the mining and healthcare deployments use bespoke applications built by Australian VR studios, often on Unity or Unreal Engine. This approach costs more upfront but allows precise alignment with specific operational procedures.

Talespin — Used by a number of Australian financial services firms for leadership development and difficult conversation training.

The ROI Question

This is where most organisations want hard numbers, and the data from Australian deployments is starting to mature.

The commonly cited figures across the programs we reviewed:

• Training time reduction: 30-50% compared to traditional methods, largely because VR allows repetitive practice without real-world setup time.
• Knowledge retention: Studies from Monash and other institutions suggest 20-30% better retention at 30 days compared to classroom-only training.
• Safety outcomes: BHP’s 40% incident reduction figure is the most robust Australian data point, though it comes with caveats about concurrent safety program changes.
• Cost per trainee: The break-even point for most programs sits at around 200-400 trainees, depending on content development costs. After that, the marginal cost per trainee drops significantly.

The honest assessment is that VR training works best when the alternative is expensive, dangerous, or logistically impractical. Mining safety, surgical simulation, and defence scenarios all fit that description. For general corporate training — think compliance modules or onboarding — the case is weaker and often doesn’t justify the hardware and content investment.

What’s Holding It Back

Three consistent barriers emerged across every conversation:

Content development costs. Building quality VR training content is expensive. Custom scenarios typically cost $80,000 to $250,000 per module, and off-the-shelf content rarely matches specific Australian operational requirements.

Hardware management. Managing a fleet of 50 or 100 headsets across multiple sites is a genuine operational headache. Charging, hygiene, updates, and user management all require dedicated resources.

Change management. Getting experienced workers — particularly in mining and construction — to take VR training seriously requires careful rollout. The organisations that succeed treat VR as a complement to existing training, not a replacement.

Where It’s Heading

For Australian businesses considering VR training, the practical advice is straightforward: start with a use case where the training is genuinely difficult or dangerous to deliver in the real world. That’s where the ROI is clearest and where VR adds something that no other medium can match.