Michigan-based 3-D ETC Inc. has pioneered a unique on-site training system that utilises 3-D high definition video with stereo sound to deliver a high impact immersive training experience. According to the model, workers attending a safety training seminar with these elements alone will retain only 10% of what they learn. Movies, exhibits and television increase retention to 50%, enough for passive learning but insufficient to affect what participants say and do on the job. In order to truly affect message retention and change behavior, learners must experience a simulation that comes as close as possible to the real thing. By using the 3-D immersive training technique, simulating real experience exposure, retention of teaching exceeds 90%. The training content is given unsurpassed vividness and impact. Students undergo a powerful hour-long facilitated program delivered through special headsets that display both 3-D imagery and binaural sound. To build each program, 3-D ETC crafts the message by first learning and assessing its clients’ needs and then applies its learning template to deliver a solution. To date, the system has been applied mainly to safety training with impressive results. In 2003 the US Department of Defense challenged all its facilities to reduce on-the-job accidents by 50 percent within two years. 3-D stereoscopic immersive training has proved itself as a key resource for achieving this objective. Rick Garver, chief of safety and health for the Defense Logistics Agency commented “This learning system helped workers assimilate faster and more permanently.” (Spillcontrol.org, Edited by Topco)