We are a small business with some big goals. And one of those goals is to obtain COR.
What is that you ask? It stands for Certificate of Recognition and is a voluntary program run by the Government of Alberta. It is available to members of the Alberta Construction Safety Association (“ACSA”) and rewarded to companies that have developed and implemented a Health & Safety program which meets established provincial standards.
It is an arduous process and since we are building our Health and Safety program from scratch, it’s been a giant learning curve. We asked our Safety Coordinator, Mike Carter to reflect on some of the things he’s learnt on the journey thus far.
Here’s what he had to share:
I didn’t know what to expect when we began the safety program. Before taking the courses through the ACSA, I had been thinking about past work experiences with the City of Fredericton and the robust safety program that they had in place. Shortly after I started framing, I had noticed that some easy adjustments could be made to the job safer and that’s what got me interested in taking on a share of the work getting Archive’s safety program off the ground.
The process had been a long one and far from easy. Because of my commitments waiting for me on the job site, I had a difficult balance to strike in finding time for the work of putting together a Health and Safety Manual.
I learned pretty quick that it was going to be a lot longer process than I had initially thought. As in, on day one of the class. But with the help of my co-worker and sister-in-law, Jacquie, we recently accomplished our goal of a temporary Certificate of Recognition, soon to be followed by full COR status.
A few takeaways from the process:
A solid system for the management of the safety of all employees is not only a matter of doing proper due diligence, it also just makes sense in both a compassionate and financial sense.
A company that treats its employees with respect by appreciating the risk they go through to accomplish the jobs that pay the bills and the wages, is one that will also have an understanding of how injuries and lost time can affect the bottom line.
A safety program is a proactive step in protecting everyone’s lives, including that of the company itself.
Our leadership is committed to safety being a pillar of Archive’s key organizational values. With another of those values being open and honest communication, we want to empower our employees to share their input which will in turn, provide the opportunity to continually improve upon our Health and Safety program.
It will always be a living thing, always evolving and in the process of refinement. Our company goals rely heavily on our team’s contributions and so by creating a solid safety culture, we want to ensure that "safety doesn't happen by accident."