LPS Coaching Tips

The construction industry is notorious for its dangerously high number of worksite injuries and deaths reporting 20% fatalities annually! Loss Prevention System (LPS) is a behavior based technique of ensuring health and safety at all times. It is the ideal solution for minimizing the occurrence of mishaps. The system is especially apt for construction as well as environmental construction companies.
LPS coaching is essential for an organization to benefit from it. In general, LPS training includes–

• Developing a Plan – Develop a detailed plan with respect to the organization's vision and policies about loss prevention.  Highlight the significance of non-occurrence of any untoward incidents for the company as well as employees. Describe the ways which help keep losses at the minimum.
• Communicating the Plan – A great plan is useless if not communicated and followed through. Make sure the plan you develop trickles down to all the employees across all designations.
• Implementing the Plan – Implementation is as critical as sharing information. Take measures so everyone follows. Lead by example. Make LPS a part of routine business activities.
• Involving everyone – The success of LPS is directly proportional to the number of employees involved. Limited participation means the planned loss prevention system is doomed. Involving everyone requires massive effort. According to experts, the top-down approach works best for giving directions and making decisions. The bottom-up approach works best in detailing the specifics wherein junior team members, employees who actually execute tasks, come up with solutions. Recognize actionable ideas the workers put forth.
• Focusing on Prevention – Prevention of accidents is the underlying basis of LPS. It prompts everyone to be proactive about avoiding accidents. Make it clear that prevention is any day better than taking corrective steps. Of course, remedial actions need to be taken when a mishap occurs, but repetition of mistakes and oversights must be avoided. "Safety first" as a rule of thumb goes a long way in keeping the loss of life and property in check.

Merely training the employees once is not enough. LPS tools and techniques need to be reinforced time and again so they become the natural way of working.
In spite of all the good intentions, mishaps do occur either because the situation is new or somebody failed to adhere to safety in a bid to complete the assigned job. In the event of such situations, following LPS coaching tips come in handy –

• Irrespective of the triviality of the incident, discuss it at length with the concerned workers. Seek information without pinpointing the culprit. Ask questions such as –
• What went wrong?
• How could the occurrence have been deterred?
• What steps should be taken to prevent recurrence?
• For workers who tend to disregard the importance of safety guidelines, give them a perspective of the way things will change if they were to get seriously injured. Show them how their family will suffer if they were to get involved in a fatal accident or an incident that leaves them crippled, simply because they chose task completion over health and safety.

True implementation occurs when the plan addresses unique situations workers come across. Dynamics of the industry make it impossible for any plan to recommend safety guidelines for all tasks. But, the system in no way bars amendments. Tweaking the process is an ongoing task but should be done as soon as there is a need to do so.

At Rice General, safety is at the top of our priority list. We encourage our employees to give suggestions without being apprehensive about the consequences. We are proud to have a robust LPS based on our workers' ideas. What's more, we continually strive to improve safe work behavior at individual level.