IHSA’s new COR^® banner campaign

Highlighting health and safety excellence among Ontario employers.

“We take health and safety seriously.” That’s what is written in bold lettering across each 10-square-foot banner displayed at jobsites and offices of COR^®-certified firms across Ontario. It’s a message seen by countless trades workers, stakeholders, and passers-by every day.

The banners symbolize a company’s achievement—that their occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) has been accredited to a national standard of excellence. But IHSA wants to know: What does COR^® certification really mean to the companies who have put in the effort and labour to achieve such a significant milestone?

IHSA recently visited two COR^®-certified member firms, Ritestart Limited and Ledcor Group, to ask them this very question—and to snap a photo of their new COR^® banner.

Though each company has its own unique health and safety needs and goals, representatives from both firms remarked that COR^® certification has been instrumental to monitoring and documenting their health and safety efforts, given them a competitive edge when bidding for projects, and helped their workforce become more engaged and involved in upholding a high standard of health and safety excellence.

As the only provider of COR^® in Ontario authorized by the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Associations, IHSA helps more than 300 firms each year earn their certification. In doing so, these businesses are creating healthier and safer workplaces for their employees.

IHSA has witnessed first-hand the significant impact COR^® has had at Ontario workplaces. The positive feedback we hear from members is an important signal that the program works. And verified data back this up. In 2022, researchers from the University of British Columbia (UBC) concluded that COR^®-certified firms in Ontario experienced a 28 per cent reduction in lost-time injury rate and a 20 per cent reduction in high-impact injury rate.

Dr. Chris McLeod, who led the UBC study, says the intervention effects that his team saw with COR^® in Ontario were the largest he’d seen across the country, adding that a 28 per cent reduction in injury rate would have noticeable effects on a company’s productivity and its bottom line.

“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,” McLeod says.

“The UBC study is empirical, scientific evidence that COR^® works, but these numbers are only one part of the bigger picture,” says Ken Rayner, Vice President of Market Development and Communications at IHSA. “Hearing the real-life, human impact that COR^® is having at Ontario companies really solidifies IHSA’s pride in administering it.”

Stephanie Clark, Health and Safety Manager at Ritestart, says that as well as making the company safer overall, COR^® acts as a clear framework for Ritestart’s health and safety efforts and allows the company to drill down on exactly where they might need to change or improve a process in order to eliminate any hazards. “We’re able to take statistical information on accidents, incidents, or near misses and use the information to build our future health and safety goals,” she says.

“Better organization of our documents and inspection forms has been really important,” Clark adds. “If we ever have an incident, we can go back and ask whether inspections or a job safety analysis have been done. Everybody at the company knows the importance of doing these things. Work is easier and safer for everyone.”

Darryl Edmonds, Ritestart’s Vice President of Construction, points out that COR^® allows for better communication and information sharing between company ownership, on-site labour, and health and safety leaders, so they can make decisions collaboratively. This creates a more open and transparent health and safety culture across the business.

“Without COR^®, workers might be nervous to report a near-miss or hazard for fear of punishment,” Edmonds says. “But our workers are encouraged to report an unsafe condition, and they have a framework to do so with COR^®. This is great for our staff—and for our culture.”

At Ledcor, Health and Safety Manager Andrew Brown says the company’s COR^® certificate helps to assure clients, many of whom are major buyers of construction, that Ledcor’s work meets the highest standards of health and safety.

“It gives our clients the peace of mind that we uphold a certain standard of construction health and safety,” Brown says. “That translates to overall safety on the project. They can be sure that their jobs will not be delayed because of safety issues, and that safety is our priority. Our partners in the industry understand COR^® and what it means, and they report in the same way. This makes collaboration streamlined and smooth.”

Matthew Zinner, Senior Superintendent at Ledcor, adds that the COR^® audit program lets the company see how it stacks up against industry leaders, empowering it to identify areas of potential improvement.

“It shows that we are committed to high safety standards, boosts our reputation, and enables us to build trust. This trust extends to workers who have a level of confidence in approaching our site teams with health, safety, and environmental matters,” he says.