You may have heard that different municipalities and provinces are adopting the Certificate of Recognition (COR) as the new Occupational Health & Safety standard for the Construction sector. As one of the main critical infrastructures of society, and being an industry with high-risk jobs, it makes sense that the Construction industry adopts new measures to keep workers safe and maintain a healthy workplace all around.
The Certificate of Recognition (COR) is a widely recognized occupational health and safety certification program in Canada. The COR program is designed to promote and improve workplace safety by establishing and maintaining a health and safety management system that meets the standards set out by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS).
Construction workers are exposed to a wide range of risks, including falls, electrocution, and hazardous materials. Establishing new standards across the organization will help mitigate these risks by prioritizing safety and maintaining an efficient workflow in place.
Benefits of the Certificate of Recognition
It would be easy to think that COR is one more boring compliance requirement. However, obtaining your Certificate of Recognition comes with many benefits.
- Commitment to Safety and a Healthy Workplace. This not only enhances the reputation of the company but it attracts valuable talent and premier clients.
- It reduces the likelihood of accidents and injuries. This means lower to no fines or insurance and compensation costs.
- COR Certified companies may be eligible for rebates on their worker’s compensation premiums.
- You’ll be able to qualify for premium development projects requiring COR.
Obtaining COR is a straightforward process, but it requires strategy and documentation.
Your first step will be to submit a COR Application Form to Infrastructure, Health & Safety Association. Then you can move on to completing the mandatory training courses.
Once you complete steps 1 and 2, you can finalize a self-audit process and submit it with the corresponding documentation. Lastly, plan a third-party COR audit.
The Fourteen Elements of COR
There are fourteen elements on which you must base your audit, and your organization will have to comply with:
- Health and Safety Policy
- Hazard Assessment, Analysis and Control
- Controls
- Procurement and Contractor Management
- Company Rules
- Personal Protective Equipment
- Preventative Maintenance
- Training and Communication
- Workplace Inspections
- Investigations and Reporting
- Emergency Preparedness
- Statistics and Records
- Legislation and Other Requirements
- Management Review and Management of Change
How to Achieve the COR Certification
To obtain the COR certification, companies must undergo an audit by a certified auditor. The audit evaluates the company’s HSMS to ensure that it meets the standards set out by the IHSA and CCOHS. If the company passes the audit, it will be awarded the COR certification, which is valid for three years.
Implementing a Health & Safety Management System (HSMS) that meets COR standards can be challenging and sometimes confusing, but it is worth it.
AchieveCOR is a Health & Safety Management System powered by Premergency Inc. and designed to prepare your organization with all the resources and knowledge to establish a Health and Safety program. This program organizes the compliance requirements to “achieve COR” certification and guidelines to maintain a constant level of improvement and self-evaluation.
With the different needs that arise when trying to meet new standards, AchieveCOR, a cloud-based software, helps you plan and manage Training, Policies, Certification and Forms, making it easily accessible and within an automated process.
Employees will be able to access the platform and fulfil the required action(s) from anywhere, at any time. Supervisors will be able to manage and track documentation, set notifications, and automate compliance to reduce the risk of errors.
Obtaining the Certificate of Recognition can be tedious. But with the right tool to audit your processes and leverage the opportunities within the workplace, you’ll become COR certified and create a sustainable and productive company culture to keep your teams safe and healthy with a high level of excellence.
