Working towards COR certification while participating in the Health and Safety Excellence program

Canada.constructconnect.com
March 28, 2022

Companies can work towards Certificate of Recognition (COR) certification while participating in the Health and Safety Excellence program (HSEp) because the elements companies need to work through in COR align with the topics in the HSEp.

The HSEp is a performance-based rewards program from the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) designed to provide businesses with a roadmap to improving their health and safety processes and systems.

WSIB connects participating companies with approved service providers that deliver assistance in the form of training, resources and guidance. While participating in HSEp, companies work toward the completion and implementation of specified health and safety topics. Upon successfully developing such topics, companies qualify for financial and non-financial rewards.

Through the HSEp, successful companies can earn a minimum of $1,000 in WSIB rebates or up to 75 per cent of their paid premiums (up to a maximum rebate of $50,000 per completed topic). In addition, firms can also receive non-financial recognition for their successes, such as digital badges they may use in their marketing and promotional materials, email signatures and responses to requests for proposals.

How COR complements HSEp
Because the health and safety elements companies need to work through in COR align with the topics in the HSEp, a company can be working towards COR certification while participating in HSEp. In other words, HSEp can serve as a roadmap to successfully working through COR.

Another significant benefit to this approach is that companies can offset some of the cost involved with developing their health and safety systems with the rebates earned through the HSEp program.

More about COR
COR is a nationwide accreditation program that reviews a company’s Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) to verify it has met a national standard. In Ontario, the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) has the exclusive authority to award COR status to a company. COR is often used as a condition of contract by the public and private sectors across Canada.

Buyers of construction continue advancing and showing their support for the COR program. Among the municipalities and organizations already requiring or announcing they will be requiring their constructors to be COR certified are: the City of Toronto, Infrastructure Ontario, Metrolinx, the Toronto Transit Commission, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, the LCBO, the City of Brampton, the City of Mississauga, the City of Vaughan, York Region, the Town of Milton, the City of Ottawa and the City of Richmond Hill.

Companies that participate in HSEp may join the program at any point in a calendar year and it is open to any company, whether they are considering COR certification, are already registered, or have already received their COR designation. Visit IHSA.ca/COR to learn more about the COR designation

To learn more about the HSEp, visit https://www.wsib.ca/en/healthandsafety