COR Receives Endorsements at Leadership Conference

This year’s Leadership Conference again had a focus on the COR program and the progress it has made in establishing itself as the standard of excellence in construction health and safety.

The Ministry of Labour is now preparing to develop its accreditation standard and it is looking first at COR. Minister of Labour Kevin Flynn is an enthusiastic supporter of the program.

"I applaud everyone here who has made a commitment to health and safety."’ Minister Flynn praised owners including the GTAA, Infrastructure Ontario, TTC and the City of Toronto all of whom are preparing to use COR to prequalify contractors.

Flynn endorsed the COR program and assured COR members that their investment will be recognized. He said, "In fact, I’m sure that COR will meet or exceed the standard," referring to the proposed Accreditation of Employers. The Ministry of Labour will soon begin a process which will set a standard for employers to be accredited as achieving excellence in their health and safety practices. Accreditation will likely recognize the programs (such as COR) that meet the standard and include procedures to confirm it has been achieved.

Flynn also noted that the WSIB will be implementing a new rating system (Rate Framework) which will provide "an incentive for companies that do the right thing," referring to COR certified companies.

Leadership Conference participants heard from large buyers of construction about their implementation schedule and process to use COR to prequalify contractors. The City of Toronto’s program to begin implementation in 2017 will require many hundreds of general and subcontractors to be certified over the next few years.