28% safer workplaces with COR^®

A new study confirms the COR^® standard’s big health and safety benefits.

What’s a guaranteed way to make a safer workplace? Implement an occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) that meets the COR^® national standard.

So say the results of the first in-depth study on the effectiveness of COR^® certification on health and safety in Ontario workplaces.

The COR^® advantage

Dr. Chris McLeod and his team at the University of British Columbia’s School of Population and Public Health conducted the study—using data from both IHSA and the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB). They looked at the injury rates of Ontario construction companies that have used the COR^® national standard to implement their OHSMS, and compared them to similar firms that do not use COR^®.

The researchers concluded that the lost-time injury rate among COR^®-certified businesses was, on average, 28% lower than their non-COR^® counterparts. Likewise, the high-impact injury rate was 20% lower for COR^®-certified firms.

An occupational health and safety management system is a framework put in place by employers to identify and assess risks, establish controls, and minimize injuries and illnesses to workers. The COR^® standard verifies full and effective implementation of a company’s OHSMS. COR^® can be utilized and achieved by firms of any size and in any sector.

Return on investment

Dr. McLeod has been researching the effectiveness of COR^® in western Canada for more than a decade. “The types of intervention effects that we see with COR^® [in Ontario] are the largest that I’ve seen,” he says. “When you map a 28% reduction in injury rate onto return on an investment—in terms of the cost of claims, as well as the overall burden of injuries and illnesses to workers—it’s quite significant.”

Since IHSA brought COR^® to Ontario in 2012, more than 600 companies have used it to design, implement, and evaluate their health and safety management systems. Over 2,000 firms are currently registered in the COR^® program—a multi-stage process that includes thorough internal and external auditing of a company’s OHSMS.

Firms that are certified or registered in the COR^® program may qualify ahead of others for certain jobs. For example, buyers of services such as construction can make COR^® a requirement for contractors bidding on jobs. By doing so, buyers can be more confident in contractors’ health and safety performance and their commitment to—and excellence in—protecting their workers.

The list of buyers of services in the public and private sectors now requiring COR^® certification as a condition of contract continues to grow, and includes: the cities of Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton, Vaughan, and Ottawa; York Region; Town of Milton; Toronto Transit Commission; Greater Toronto Airports Authority; Liquor Control Board of Ontario; Metrolinx; and Infrastructure Ontario.

Visit ihsa.ca/28 to learn more about the COR^® study and the benefits of becoming COR^® certified.