During the audit to obtain COR certification, certain elements and sub-elements are considered that are to be managed within the company effectively.
Although COR is still a voluntary certification, many municipalities in Canada contract with companies that have it, which creates a high demand and, as a consequence, an improvement in the management of corporate health and safety.
Some of the parameters imposed by the IHSAs include the following elements:
Leadership and management
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At the management level, there must be a real commitment to the continuous improvement of the health and safety aspect. In this regard, the functions and responsibilities of the members of the management and the rest of the collaborators must be defined in order to jointly define and comply with the health and safety policy within the work routine.
Each chosen member committed to good risk management must be trained within the IHSA specifications. These trainings allow employees to create changes and strategies for good risk management.
Identification and reduction of risks
Once there is at least one employee trained as an internal auditor, he/she must begin to evaluate and analyze the company’s work routine to create a risk register in order to generate efficient strategies to avoid them.
Among this element, the following sub-elements are considered:
- Risk identifications, evaluation and control.
- Reporting of unsafe conditions and/or hazards within the company.
- Properly maintain the forms that report risks.
- Issuing new occupational health and safety rules.
- Establish the use of appropriate protective equipment.
Written instructions for a safe work procedure
All changes necessary to pass the external audit must be considered within this aspect. Therefore, the following elements must be passed:
- First aid evaluation sheet.
- First aid supply inventory.
- Appointment of specific persons to be first aid assistants.
- Emergency response plan.
- Hazardous materials information system within the workplace.
Physical inspection of workplaces and work practices
The daily work routine should be evaluated and possible risks should be analyzed in order to develop a strategy to reduce them.
- Safety inspection according to established policy and procedure.
- Record of corrective actions.
- Inspection report of equipment, machinery and vehicles.
- Maintenance record of equipment, machinery and vehicles.
- Checklist to verify the inspection.
Incident and/or accident investigation
Previous operation of the company and the possibility of accidents, incidents or near misses in the past must be known.
- Policy and procedure for investigating this background.
- Creation and maintenance of an incident investigation and reporting form.
Employee training
For occupational health and safety management to work, change policies must be understood and complied with by all members of the company, and this is possible if a correct implementation system is maintained.
- Employee training.
- Checklist that verifies the orientation on the subject.
- Evaluation list for new employees.
- Training record for new employees.
- Internal policy for contractors, selection and checklist.
- Minutes of meeting to discuss safety issues.
Program management
It should be analyzed if the program is working through safety records and statistics that can show improvements.
Joint occupational safety committee
A committee focused on addressing occupational health and safety issues should be defined with specific members committed to the issue.
Injury management
A policy for managing injuries and staying on the job should be defined. Also, a return-to-work policy should be defined.
