Daiwa LifeNext Co., Ltd. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Keitaro Takebayashi; hereinafter “Daiwa LifeNext”), a company of Daiwa House Group and Rikei Corporation (Head Office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Satoru Isaka; hereinafter “Rikei”) are pleased to announce that they have started to providing the second version of a “VR Fire Drill (*1 and 2)” service (hereinafter “the Service”)” for condominium residents specialized in firefighting equipment of condominiums released in November 2021, to condominium management associations (*3) which entrust management to Daiwa LifeNext. The Service is an achievement of the joint research & development of next-generation condominium disaster preparedness content being conducted by a three-party alliance that includes Yokohama City.

Details of the “Service”:
https://www.daiwalifenext.co.jp/management/vr_firedrill.html

Three features of the “VR Fire Drill”

1. Residents can participate in the drill anytime, anywhere, and as many times as they want.
The fire drill can be conducted by having residents watch a VR video on the internet using their smartphones or other devices at their own convenience, thereby the participation rate can be improved.
Some management associations that had introduced the Service actually, the number of participated households increased by about five times compared to conventional fire drills.

2. The content of the drill is consistent with the Fire Service Act.
In addition to the three drills stipulated by the Fire Service Act, namely “fire extinguishing training”, “evacuation training”, and “reporting training”, another training that specializes in how to use fire extinguish equipment specific to condominium is added to the second version.
Note: Regarding the notification of fire drills, it is necessary to confirm with the fire department that has jurisdiction over your area.

3. Reducing the burden on condominium management associations
The content also encompasses a series of necessary tasks to holding fire drills, including the provision of information to residents, counting the number of participants and the questionnaire after the drill.

Details of VR Fire Drill Ver.2 contents

The following five contents that focus on firefighting equipment specific to condominium and how to use them are now available in response to requests from condominium residents.

How to:

• Use fire extinguisher
• Escape from balcony
• Use indoor fire hydrant
• Use mobile dry powder fire extinguisher
• Use fire door

Although conventional fire drills generally include how to use water fire extinguishers and how to escape by stairs, there were many opinions from condominium residents’ such as “I would like to try fire drills using an actual fire extinguisher,” “As a way of evacuation from balcony, I would like to try out actual evacuation ladder and break through balcony partition board.” However, there are various hurdles to conducting such drills in condominium premises such as arranging place, coordinating with residents, and preparation of consumables including balcony partition boards and fire extinguishers.
With the Service, it is expected that each condominium resident will be able to improve their ability to help themselves with VR images with a sense of reality, as they will be able to experience the contents that are difficult to conduct actual training.

Introduction of the “VR Fire Drill”
https://youtu.be/0ngvaOKzn3Y

Digest of the “VR Fire Drill” introduction
https://youtu.be/dhcYeQn_X1E

Background to the offering

According to questionnaires conducted in July 2022 among approximately 4,000 residents of condominiums managed by Daiwa LifeNext, 43% of the respondents had never participated in fire drills and 16% had participated once but never participated again. The questionnaires revealed that about 60% of the residents have rarely participated in fire drills. And the most common reason for this was “the schedule does not match”, accounting for 54%.
As a solution to these problems, the “VR Fire Drill” does not require large number of residents to gather in one place which involves the risk of infection, as well as does not need various conventional restriction, it enables more residents to feel free to participate in fire drills.

＜Results of questionnaires on participation in condominium fire drills (Number of respondents 4,019)＞

＜Reasons for non-participation (Number of respondents 3,303)＞

Based on Daiwa LifeNext questionnaires in July 2022

Case study

Since its release in November 2021, about 50 condominium management associations across Japan have introduced the Service so far, and VR fire drills have been held in a wide range of condominium types, from small condominiums with about 20 households to large apartment complexes with more than 900 households. In some cases, the participation rate has exceeded 70% at maximum.

Case of condominium A
– Background of the introduction
The condominium A with 900 households is in Fukuoka Prefecture. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, fire drills were planned and held annually by disaster prevention committee members of the condominium, but number of participated households was about 100 at most. The decision to introduce the “VR Fire Drills” was made because conventional fire drills could no longer be held after the COVID-19 pandemic.

– Results of a VR fire drill
Number of participants: approximately 400 households; participation rate 44%
Degree of satisfaction: 3.74 out of 5

– Participants’ voice

• I have lived the condominium for over 20 years, but this was the first time for me to have been able to participate in the fire drill.
• I had never checked where fire extinguishers are before, but I did so for the first time after participating in the VR dire drill.
• Watching VR video was very useful.
• I was able to participate with my child and had an opportunity to talk about disaster prevention with my family.
• It was helpful because I could participate in the fire drill anytime within a period.

Case of condominium B
– Background of the introduction
Condominium B is of approximately 40 households in Saitama Prefecture. To enhance disaster prevention activities of the condominium, it decided to introduce both the production of the “Only One Disaster Prevention Manual” and the “VR Fire Drills” provided by Daiwa LifeNext.

– Results of a VR fire drill
Number of participants: approximately 20 households; participation rate 51%
Degree of satisfaction: 3.80 out of 5

– Participants’ voice

• It was nice to be able to watch the VR video over and over again.
• I was able to reconfirm what I thought I knew.
• It was easier to understand than I thought, as I was able to check at my pace in my spare time.

Disaster prevention service brand “manbow”

The Service is one of the “manbow” brand, disaster preparedness services from Daiwa LifeNext. Based on the concept of “making condominium disaster prevention a part of daily life, not someday, “manbow” is a brand that provides services that are optimized for condominiums to meet the changing disaster prevention needs of the times and that can be naturally prepared for in everyday life, including hardware such as buildings and facilities as well as software such as self-help and mutual aid. Combined with other services such as the “Only One Disaster Prevention Manual Production Service”, the Service enables the more effective improvement of the disaster preparedness capabilities of entire condominium residents and their ability to help themselves.

About “manbow”
https://www.daiwalifenext.co.jp/management/manbow.html

*1 VR: Virtual Reality
*2 “VR Fire Drill” is in the process of applying for trademark registration.
*3 Initial targets are condominium management associations entrusting management to Daiwa LifeNext currently, but the plan is to offer the Service widely to other customers in the future.

The future form of condominium management “MANSION NEXTYLE”

Daiwa LifeNext is more than just a condominium management company, but as a comprehensive housing support company, has developed “Condominium NEXTYLE,” which evolves from conventional uniform management services to personalized services in order to flexibly respond to the issues that condominiums face and diverse values, and to realize safer, more secure, and more comfortable lives for customers.

About Daiwa LifeNext Co., Ltd.

Daiwa LifeNext Co., Ltd. delivers services in a wide range of areas related to customers’ housing and real estate including building management services for condominiums, apartment, buildings, logistics and commercial facilities, hotels, etc.; corporate services such as management of corporate apartment, shared residence, conference hotels, and renovated hotels, and office relocation support. The company will continue to be a group of people who have the desire to “open up a better future now from here,” and aim to continue to co-create more affluent lifestyles with customers and society, while valuing individual’s personality, way of thinking ,values, and sensibilities.

About Rikei Corporation

Since its establishment in 1957 as a solution vendor in the IT and electronics industries, Rikei Corporation has provided a variety of solutions ranging from systems to networks, VR/AR contents, electronic materials and electronic devices.

Rikei proposes solutions that utilize cutting-edge technologies and advanced products from Japan and overseas, and contributes to business development such as improving efficiency of operations and profits of customers.

*Product and company names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.