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Certificate of Recognition (COR)

COR is an initiative that recognizes and rewards employers who develop and apply sustainable occupational health and safety programs that meet or exceed the legal requirements of the Workers’ Compensation Act and the Health and Safety Regulations. Employers that take a best practices approach to implementing health, safety and return-to-work (RTW) programs recognize the value of managing health and safety equally with other components necessary for a successful business such as profitability and productivity. 

Employers that participate in the COR program benefit from:
  • A safer and healthier workplace as a direct result of reducing the risk of workplace accidents and ill health;
  • A positive safety culture that recognizes that everyone from senior management to frontline employees are responsible for workplace health and safety;
  • Reduced WorkSafeBC premiums and a result of lower compensation costs; and
  • Annual WorkSafeBC premium rebates of up to 15% for those who have earned a COR. 
The Trucking Safety Council administers the COR program for the General Trucking and Moving & Storage industries in BC. The Council is currently in the process of establishing its program and audit requirements for the trucking industry COR. Visit our website regularly for COR updates and progress toward its implementation.  
 

January, 2010
UPDATE Number 1
 
The Trucking Safety Council is making steady progress toward implementing its trucking COR. The COR audit tool is nearly complete and work on the three COR required training courses is progressing.  In this update, we discuss the audit process.
 
The COR Audit
 
The COR audit is the key part of the COR Program. The audit determines the quality and effectiveness of an employer’s health and safety program and injury management/return to work systems. Audits are conducted by  TSCBC trained auditors who are qualified to assess health and safety management systems. To obtain certification, employers must achieve a minimum 80% total audit score, and the score on individual elements cannot be less than 50%. There are nine elements in an Occupational Health and Safety (OH & S) audit and, if an employer wishes to obtain a Return to Work (RTW) COR, there is one additional element with four sections.
 
There are two types of audits.   There is different audit type depending on employer size, as measured by the number of workers. One is for employers having more than 20 employees and the other is for employers with less than 20 employees. The TSCBC is currently developing, and will make available first, the large employer audit tool.   Once this audit standard is implemented and tested, the Council will begin development of the second audit tool for small employers, including owner operators. 
 
Employers will be audited annually.   To obtain COR certification and then every third year thereafter, a certification audit must be carried out by a TSCBC approved “External Auditor”.  An external auditor is an individual with a high degree of expertise and competency in occupational health and safety auditing. External auditors are hired by the employer to perform  the audit, the results of which are sent to the Council for its review and confirmation that it meets TSCBC requirements. The employer must also submit a “Corrective Action Plan” that outlines the actions the employer will take to address any audit identified deficiencies.
 
Once an employer successfully achieves a COR, maintenance audits are required in the first and second year following the certification audit in order to maintain certification. Maintenance audits may be carried out by an external auditor or an “Internal Auditor”. An internal auditor is a permanent company employee who has received TSCBC training on how to conduct, document and score a COR audit of health and safety and RTW management systems. Each internal audit must also be submitted to the TSCBC for quality assurance and verification.
 
Preparing for an audit requires training. In order to effectively participate in the COR program, employers should conduct a baseline audit before submitting to a COR audit in order to identify any deficiencies and develop action plans in response. For this, employers must understand the concepts of COR certification such as how to develop health and safety and return to work management systems, what the audit requirements are and how to implement continuous improvement strategies. In order to deliver this knowledge, the TSCBC is preparing a number of training courses for employers, some of which will be mandatory. These courses will be discussed in the next COR update.
  
March, 2010
UPDATE #2
 
COR Training Courses
 
The TSCBC will be providing three training courses to help employers prepare for and obtain a trucking COR. These courses will be mandatory; meaning that at least one employee (not necessarily the same employee) must take and successfully complete each course in order  to be eligible to obtain a COR. The company will also be required to have at least one employee trained in each course to maintain its COR. These courses are designed to teach management and supervisors the importance of maintaining a safe workplace and how to develop and implement a safety management system that meets the COR requirements.
 
The TSCBC is now in the process of creating these courses and it expects to pilot them this summer. Each of these courses is designed for large employers, those having over 20 employees. Additional courses for small and very small employers will be developed at a later date. Following is a brief description of each to the courses.
 
Senior Managers/Owner Course: This course is for owners/senior management of companies. Participants may include; the President, Vice President, Director of Operations, CFO, General Manager or the company owner. Senior management commitment and support is essential to ensure successful implementation of the health & safety program and policy. Senior management support will create a communication flow from the top down, delivering a consistent message of support and compliance.     
 
The ½ day course will provide senior management with the tools, information and knowledge necessary to enable them to commit to implementing and maintaining a health & safety program and policy that forms a part of the company’s day to day operations thereby establishing and nurturing a corporate culture of safety.
 
Health and Safety Management Course: This course is designed to teach safety managers how to develop a health and safety system that satisfies the COR standards, ensures compliance with the regulations and meets the company’s needs for a safe and healthy workplace. This course will enable the company to develop the policies, practices and procedures necessary for an effective safety program and demonstrate how a safety management system can be successfully implemented in the workplace. 
 
This is a 2 day course. Participants may be company management, supervisors and/or health and safety representatives who have responsibility for maintaining compliance with WorkSafeBC regulations and the COR program. 
 
Return to Work (RTW) Course: Returning an injured worker to meaningful and productive work is an important element of the safety management system. A proper and effective RTW process will protect the workers earning ability, minimize disruption to their personal lives and reduce the cost of workers’ compensation claims.
 
This 1 day course will provide information about RTW policies and how to implement a RTW program and prepare employers for the RTW portion of the COR audit.