Fire safety training
Workplace Fire Safety Training
Branching scenario · Articulate Storyline 360 + Vyond
An interactive workplace fire-safety simulation built in Articulate Storyline 360 and Vyond. The learner moves through a developing office fire emergency, making critical decisions about extinguisher use, evacuation, electrical fires, emergency exits, and missing coworkers.
Each decision produces an immediate consequence, while a cumulative score tracks performance across the experience and determines whether the learner successfully completes the training or is directed to try again.
TYPE
Branching scenario simulation
AUDIENCE
Office employees and new hires
TOOLS
Storyline 360, Vyond, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, ChatGPT, Gemini
ROLE
Solo instructional design & development
The Problem
Knowing workplace fire-safety procedures is very different from being able to apply them during an emergency. When a fire alarm sounds, employees may have only seconds to decide what to do. Common mistakes — stopping to collect belongings, using water on an electrical fire, taking an elevator, re-entering a building, or responding incorrectly to a missing coworker — can turn an already dangerous situation into a life-threatening one. Traditional fire-safety training often explains these rules through slides, videos, or checklists. While this can build awareness, it provides limited opportunity to practice making decisions under pressure. I designed this simulation to move learners from simply knowing fire-safety rules to applying them in realistic workplace situations.
The Audience
The experience is designed for employees working in office environments, particularly new hires completing workplace health and safety training. Learners do not need specialist fire-safety knowledge. The simulation focuses on practical decisions that an employee may realistically need to make during the first minutes of a workplace fire emergency.
Action Map
Before developing the course, I identified the workplace behaviors that would have the greatest impact during an emergency.
The business goal
Improve employee readiness during workplace fire emergencies and reduce unsafe actions that could lead to injury, delayed evacuation, or additional emergency response.
The behaviors that achieve the goal
Employees need to be able to:
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Follow the correct P.A.S.S. sequence when operating a fire extinguisher.
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Evacuate immediately without stopping to collect personal belongings.
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Recognize the danger of using water on an electrical fire.
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Use emergency stairs instead of elevators during a fire.
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Keep evacuation routes and emergency exits clear.
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Remain at the assembly point after evacuation.
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Report missing coworkers to trained emergency responders rather than re-entering the building.
The practice activities that build those behaviors
Instead of relying primarily on information slides, I built the course around decisions and consequences.
Learners:
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Complete a drag-and-drop activity to practice the P.A.S.S. extinguisher sequence.
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Decide whether to retrieve a laptop during an evacuation.
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Respond to an electrical fire in a workplace break room.
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Choose an evacuation route when an emergency exit is obstructed.
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Decide what to do when a coworker is missing from the assembly point.
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Receive immediate animated feedback after each decision.
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Accumulate a performance score that influences the final result.
The minimum information needed
Only the information necessary to support safe decisions is introduced:
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The P.A.S.S. fire-extinguisher sequence.
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The importance of immediate evacuation.
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Electrical fire hazards.
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Safe evacuation routes.
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Assembly-point procedures.
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The role of firefighters and emergency responders.
This kept the experience focused on practice rather than information overload.
The Approach
I built the experience around three design principles:
Scenario-Based Learning
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Rather than presenting learners with a series of fire-safety rules, the simulation places them inside a developing workplace emergency.
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The experience begins calmly with an equipment check and office introduction before the fire alarm suddenly changes the situation. From that point forward, learners must respond to increasingly serious decisions.
Choice and Consequence
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Each scenario asks the learner to make a decision before receiving instruction about the outcome.
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Correct choices move the learner safely forward, while unsafe choices trigger consequence-based feedback explaining the potential danger.
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This allows learners to experience the reasoning behind the safety procedure rather than simply being told the correct answer.
Performance-Based Scoring
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A custom Userscore variable tracks performance throughout the simulation.
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Correct decisions increase the score, while unsafe decisions reduce it. The learner's cumulative performance determines the ending they receive.
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This gives individual decisions meaning across the entire experience rather than treating each interaction as an isolated quiz question.
Design Highlights
A continuous emergency narrative
The course is designed as one connected workplace emergency rather than a collection of unrelated quiz questions.
The learner progresses through:
Equipment check → Office lobby → Office workspace → Break room → Hallway → Assembly point → Final result
This creates a stronger sense of progression and makes each decision feel connected to what happened before it.
Immediate animated consequence feedback
Vyond animations show the consequences of learner decisions before explanatory feedback appears.
Instead of simply displaying Correct or Incorrect, learners see how their actions influence the emergency.
This makes feedback part of the story rather than an interruption to it.
Variable-driven scoring
Storyline variables track correct and incorrect decisions across the scenario.
For example:
Correct choice → Add 1 to Userscore
Unsafe choice → Subtract 1 from Userscore
The cumulative score is then used to determine whether the learner reaches the successful completion state or needs additional practice.
Progressive disclosure
Buttons, text, and navigation elements remain hidden until the associated Vyond animation finishes.
Storyline triggers change objects to their Normal state when the video timeline ends.
This controls pacing and prevents learners from skipping feedback before seeing the consequence of their decision.
Custom navigation
Navigation is handled through objects inside the simulated environment rather than relying entirely on the standard Storyline player.
Buttons such as Continue, Make a Choice, Try Again, End Course, and Restart Course guide the learner through the experience.
This helps the module feel more like an interactive simulation than a traditional slide-based course.
Meaningful completion logic
The final screen does more than announce the learner's result.
Successful learners receive a Fire Safety Certified completion screen and can end the course as Completed/Passed.
Learners who miss critical safety decisions are directed to restart the course and practice again.
A completion notification also instructs learners to capture their result for manager tracking.
Walkthrough
1. Introduction
The learner enters the Workplace Fire Safety Training experience and is introduced to the objective:
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Learn critical protocols to navigate fire emergencies, respond to hazards correctly, and evacuate safely.
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A short animated introduction sets up the simulation and explains that the learner's decisions will be tested.
2. Fire extinguisher preparation
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Before entering the workplace scenario, the learner reviews the P.A.S.S. method for operating a fire extinguisher.
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A drag-and-drop interaction asks the learner to correctly sequence the four actions.
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Correct sequencing increases the learner's score and moves them forward. An incorrect attempt provides feedback and gives the learner another opportunity to practice.
3. Entering the office
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The learner arrives in the building lobby and proceeds into the main office.
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The calm introduction establishes the environment before the emergency begins.
4. The fire alarm
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While sitting at the desk, the fire alarm suddenly sounds.
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The learner must decide: Take the laptop or leave it behind?
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The safer choice reinforces the principle that personal belongings should never delay an evacuation.
5. Break room electrical fire
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The learner discovers sparks and flames coming from a microwave.
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They must decide whether to use water or respond with the appropriate fire-safety action.
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Unsafe choices demonstrate the electrical shock and fire-spread risks associated with water and energized electrical equipment.
6. Hallway evacuation
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The learner reaches the hallway and discovers that the emergency exit route is partially obstructed while an elevator appears available.
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The learner must determine the safest evacuation route.
The scenario reinforces two important behaviors:
• Never use elevators during a fire.
• Keep emergency exits and evacuation routes clear.
7. Assembly point
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After reaching the designated assembly area, the learner realizes that a coworker is missing.
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They must choose between:
Going back inside to look or Reporting the missing coworker to a firefighter -
The feedback reinforces that employees should never re-enter a burning building and should leave rescue operations to trained emergency responders.
8. Performance-based ending
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The learner's cumulative Userscore determines the final outcome.
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Successful learners receive:
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Fire Safety Certified!
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Learners who miss critical safety decisions receive:
- Fire Safety Training — Try Again
- and are given the opportunity to restart the simulation.
LMS Integration & SCORM Validation
To ensure reliable LMS delivery, the Articulate Storyline course was exported as a SCORM package and tested in SCORM Cloud. The validation process confirmed successful tracking of learner performance data.
Tools Used
Articulate Storyline 360, Vyond, Adobe Illustrator, Canva, ChatGPT, and Gemini.
What I'd Iterate Next
- Add accessibility improvements including keyboard navigation and captions.
- Expand scenarios to include smoke-filled environments.
- Introduce adaptive remediation.
- Conduct formal usability testing.
Evaluation Strategy
I would apply the Kirkpatrick Model to evaluate effectiveness through reaction, learning, behavior, and results.