Achieve and Maintain COR
Overview
Obtaining a Certificate of Recognition (COR) confirms that the employer’s health and safety management system has been evaluated by a certified auditor and passed with the provincial standards established by Occupational Health and Safety (OHS).
To acquire a COR, your business should primarily have a health and safety management system that would be audited by a Certifying Partner. A Certifying Partner is an organization that assists in developing a health and safety system, giving health and safety training and services, systemizing the audit process, and providing quality assurance.
The Certifying Partner will jointly issue a COR with the Government of Alberta if your business passes the audit.
There are diverse types of CORs, depending on a business’s number of employees.
Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR)
A SECOR is for businesses with up to ten workers.
To acquire a SECOR, you must evaluate your health and safety management system, then have it reviewed by your Certifying Partner.
If your business has a SECOR and eventually grown to have more than 10 employees, you can have a transition program to obtain a standard COR.
Certificate of Recognition (COR)
A COR is for businesses with more than ten employees.
To get a COR, hire an external auditor to audit your HSE management system. Your Certifying Partner will then have it reviewed.
Other Benefits of COR / SECOR:
- Establishing a proactive workplace health and safety culture
- Plummeting the risks and costs related to workplace incidents
- Dropping WCB rates and qualifying a company for WCB PIR refunds
- Improving the general efficiency at your worksite
What are the steps in getting COR / SECOR?
Follow these steps to obtain certification:
- Your company must have an active Alberta WCB account.
- Ensure that your company has a Certifying Partner Membership.
- Have at least one full-time employee completed all of the following COR courses (Note: it does not have to be one person completing all four courses – each course can be divided among separate, individual employees):
For COR:
- Principles of Health & Safety Management (PHSM)
- Leadership for Safety Excellence (LSE)
- Alberta OHS Legislation Awareness (LEG)
- Auditor Training Program (ATP)
Required: Self-qualification audit to become a certified auditor. This permits the company to join the Peer Audit Program and allows the auditor to do the company’s internal audits. For more information, see the Peer Audit Process.
For SECOR:
- Principles of Health & Safety Management (PHSM) or Small Employer Health & Safety Management (SECOR)
- Standard First Aid (SFA)
Please visit the Government of Alberta website for the list of approved first aid training facilities.
- One of the industry-specific safety training classes
- Construction Safety Training System (CSTS)
- Roadbuilders’ Safety Training System (RSTS)
- Electrical Safety Training System (ESTS)
- Pipeline Construction Safety Training (PCST)
4. The company will develop and implement its health and safety program. Once the program is ready and have met a minimum of three months’ worth of health and safety documentation, they will form and complete their primary certification audit.
For COR:
- To attain/renew a COR, have your program audited by an external certified auditor. The external audit can be done in two ways: employing the Peer Auditor system or by hiring an ACSA-certified Consultant Auditor.
- Once a COR has been attained, it will be valid for three years. In the temporary two years, internal COR maintenance audits or an Action Plan will be made, for your company to keep its COR certification and be qualified for the PIR refunds. Internal COR maintenance audits must reach an overall score of 60% or greater.
- After three years, your COR status will need renewal, which can be reached by conducting a COR external recertification audit.
For SECOR:
- Once a SECOR is achieved, it will be valid for three years. In the temporary two years, the company will need to complete a SECOR maintenance on the SECOR evaluation tool to sustain its SECOR certification and be qualified for the PIR refunds.
How Long Does Getting a COR Certificate Take?
The length of the process depends upon the state of your current health and safety management system. Several companies meet all the COR™ requirements, while others may need up to 18 months to effectively implement all elements of the program.
How Think Safety Solutions Can Help
Using Think Safety Solutions makes it easier for your company to achieve and maintain your COR™ certification.
Risks of Not Having a Good Safety Management System
Not having an effective HSE System has many risks like a decrease in productivity, increase in turnover of staff, legal repercussions like not complying with workplace health and safety and fire safety legislation, fines, loss of reputation for missing a deadline due to a missed preventative maintenance, and increased risk of ill health, injury, and death.
Everything is Online and in One Place
Don’t lose important paperwork, because all is backed up on Amazon Web Services (AWS), a subsidiary of Amazon offering on-demand cloud computing platforms and APIs to people, businesses, and governments, on a metered pay-as-you-go basis. All files are secured and encrypted. Netflix, LinkedIn, and Facebook are some of the big names who trust AWS.
Benefits of Having TSS
Having a Paper-based HSE System has many disadvantages like the storage Isn’t scalable, not portable, lack of backup & limited security, inconsistent layouts, time-consuming and error-prone. With TSS, have all your safety easily accessible on a secured cloud-based platform through your mobile phone, tablet, or computer. Avoid knowing about issues until it’s too late.
With our organized and effective system, you can avoid fines, lawsuits, and penalties.
Use a preventative tactic so the cost, time, and efficiency can be monitored and managed beforehand, not when the harm has already been done. Everything will literally be at your fingertips, anytime and anywhere!
Our software solution will make your safety management much easier to navigate, significantly faster to execute, and noticeably better to keep track of. No more searching through filing cabinets and binders because everything is organized and kept on an easily searchable system, making COR™ compliance before, during, and after the audit a breeze. Save your time, save your resources, and save yourself from any stress and headache.
If you want more details, a 20-minute demo, or just a quick chat, contact us today. We love talking about safety solutions and always have time to help you succeed.
