Your Safety Guide: COR Certification & SECOR

How to Obtain COR Certification & SECOR

A Certificate of Recognition (COR) is provided to employers who create workplace safety programs that meet established Provincial standards.

The Certificate of Recognition (COR) and Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) safety program is available for all Canadian companies. Each Province/Territory has their own certifying partners that allow you to obtain your COR/SECOR in one or more provinces.

The steps To Obtaining COR/SECOR Include (not necessarily in this order):

• Creating a safety manual. You can do this yourself or you can hire a safety professional. Safety professionals enable you to create a safety manual within a compliant safety program representing the safety values and hazards within your company.
• Choosing a Certifying Partner. Certifying partners are responsible for issuing Certificates of Recognition to employers by assessing the quality of workplace safety management systems. To choose a certifying partner you must first identify who meets your safety needs in the location(s) and industries you work in. Some provinces even offer workers’ compensation discounts to companies that have met this standard.
• Undertaking Required Safety Training. Choose an employee who has been with the company for a long time as you’ll will want minimize the possibility of training new safety people each year.
• Completing An Annual Audit. The safety audit requirements vary between provinces and certifying partners. Depending on the size of your company you may be able to audit yourself or you may need to hire a third-party auditor.
• Improving Your Safety, Based On Annual Audit Findings.
  Sounds simple, right? Well it is, but only if you understand exactly what needs to be done and you are ORGANIZED.

The Role of Designated Safety Personnel

It is a good idea to have one person assigned to the organization of your safety program. All of these tasks above are critical at the end of the year when the safety audit is being put together. This person will need to:

• Verify that the forms are being completed on-schedule,
• Ensure that the quality of the completed forms assures on-site safety, and
• Check that the forms are completed in full (including names, signatures, hazards, detail, follow-up, etc.).
• Create an action list: An action list ensures all items that may be a safety hazard (including training) are documented and ready to be addressed. Each submitted form needs to be reviewed for any outstanding actions, each action is then transferred onto an action log that address the date, action, follow-up requirement, person assigned to complete task, and completion date.
• File the forms so they can easily be located in the future. Like forms should be filed together. If certain forms need to be in personnel files (such as orientations, training records, etc.) also ensure another copy also exists in a file labelled ‘Orientations’.
• Companies that have complete the form collection in digital format should also use a file format as listed above–ensure you have a solid back up system.

Whether you are having a safety auditor come to your site or you are auditing yourself, good planning and organization will make the process go smoother.

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If you need assistance with COR certification / safety manual creation please contact us online about our COR/SECOR consultation services, or phone us at 1.888.434.0411 for more information.