3 Ways to Prepare for COR™ During a Global Pandemic

The coronavirus has shocked every industry, including EHS, forcing individuals to think about their business in a new way. It’s no surprise Health and Safety has come centerstage as a critical factor in measuring whether an organization succeeds or falls behind in our present landscape. For health and safety professionals, like you, this is a crucial moment in time to strengthen the foundations of your organization to ensure that every member of your team is protected, especially if you’re thinking about achieving COR^TM or preparing for your upcoming audit.

Andrew Hill, one of our Account Executives, sat down with Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and approved auditor for the IHSA, Cam Mitchell. In the second part of our Ask a COR Expert 4-part webinar series, Cam shared valuable insights with Andrew as he discussed COVID-19 in relation to COR^TM.

Unlike everything swiftly shifting around us, COR^TM has stood firm in its deadlines and prequalification criteria, so make sure you are doing everything to ace your audit and prove you are meeting health and safety standards. Not only will achieving COR^TM  boost your reputation within your industry and allow you to generate more revenue; it will strengthen your safety culture and ensure your team is protected.

According to experts in the industry, here are three ways to simplify your COR^TM  journey while experiencing the impact of COVID-19.

1. Assess COVID-19 as a Hazard 

Section 14 of the COR^TM standard tackles Occupational Health. This entails anything seen as a risk or hazard in terms of a team member’s health. Naturally, COVID-19 falls into this section as it has become an extreme risk to individuals, young and old. Auditors will be looking to see what you have done to help mitigate this risk, so here are some tips:

• Start identifying COVID-19 as a risk and incorporate it into your formal hazard assessments, if you haven’t already.
• Modify daily forms and supervisor reports to include new controls such as “masks and gloves worn”, “decontamination of surfaces completed”, etc.
• Build your pandemic response plan to document all measures taken to protect your team and organization, including assessing job sites and office environments and the risks they pose, risks related to job duties, and the changes implemented.

By strengthening your pandemic plan and documenting these changes now, you’ll have no trouble showing an external auditor what you’ve implemented to remain compliant with this standard when it comes time for your audit.

2. Strengthen Communication

With many people working remotely, communication among team members can certainly suffer. It’s highly vital to keep all team members connected, even though they may no longer be on-site, to make sure nothing falls through the cracks and your safety culture remains strong.

One of the first things you can do to enhance communication is to ensure your management team is highly involved in the COR™ auditing process. With buy-in from top executives, an effort and desire to create a strong community culture will be showcased by all team members, as workers will be empowered to do so by their superiors. According to experts, senior leadership who is highly invested in the health and safety of the organization generally do better on their COR audit and maintain a strong score for years to come. Find out why CEO commitment is the number one step to achieving a strong safety culture in our whitepaper Building a High Participation Culture.

With several members being on and off-site, you might be thinking: “How can I show evidence that we are still satisfying all COR^TM requirements related to communication like regular safety meetings and Toolbox Talks?” We know this may be overwhelming, but worry not! We have a solution. Find out what COR™ expert and auditor Cam Mitchell recommends in the second video of our COR webinar series Ask a COR Expert: COVID-19 and COR to bring your team together.

3. Build Your Overall Health and Safety Program

For a successful COR™ audit, you need to have at least one year of documentation ready to show any auditor to illustrate your health and safety program, covering a multitude of aspects from Emergency Preparedness to Statistics and Records. This has not changed despite the fact that some worksites may not be up and running at the moment. In fact, to achieve COR™ right now, you must have an open worksite.

We hear you loud and clear: “How is this possible when we are trying to protect our teams and limit the number of workers on-site?” What if I told you there was a way to maintain active worksites, limit the amount of people on-site, and still boost productivity?

To find out the answer to this question in addition to innovative solutions organizations have implemented, information of what to expect according to your jurisdiction, and more, check out our webinar with Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) and COR^TM expert Cam Mitchell here.