Ontario Electrical Contractor 25 THE COR™ JOURNEY C Certificate of Recognition (COR™) is a term that has been buzzing in the Ontario construc- tion industry for the past year or two. To qual- ify for bidding on jobs of top organizations such as Metrolinx, TTC, City of Toronto, GTAA, York Region, and Infrastructure Ontario, including other top municipalities, companies need to be COR™ certified. Companies that are already registered for COR™ in Ontario, and that are going through the process, will know that the COR™ journey involves the three key pillars – health and safety management system (HSMS), well- defined processes, and safety culture. However, very soon, they will realize the significance of having a good safety culture for creating and sustaining COR™ year after year. Down their COR™ journey, companies start realizing the fact that maintaining COR™ status in the years to come without having a strong safety culture in place will be one challenging task. This is where a company’s journey from compliance to culture begins. What is safety culture? Workplace safety culture can be best defined as one that starts with “I” within the organization and moves along with “we.” It’s one where everyone is responsible for workplace safety. It encourages workers to view health and safety as a core responsibility rather than just a legislative requirement. It involves the use of online systems, tools, and techniques that make the whole workplace operate efficiently with improved productivity. “The safety culture of an organization is the product of individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and patterns of behavior that determine the commitment to, and the style and proficiency of, an organization’s health and safety management. From Compliance to Culture The Amazing COR™ Journey Organizations with a positive safety culture are characterized by communications founded on mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the importance of safety and by confidence in the efficacy of preventive measures.” -The UK Health and Safety Commission Does your approach to safety culture matter? Workplaces may differ, activities may differ, and so may the risk of carrying out those activities. The big question here is how should companies be viewing workplace safety? Do they view it as a mandatory requirement as per law? Or do they need to view it as a wonderful opportunity to not only provide a safe workplace to their workers, but also engage with them regularly? The second approach is the highly desirable one. If an organization succeeds in making safety an integral part of its culture over the long term, it creates a sustainable program, which adds to the brand value. Workplace safety and corporate brand image go hand-in-glove. We all know what happened to British Petroleum’s global brand image after the massive oil-leak tragedy. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to understand and respect the correlation between company brand and workplace safety. One of the best ways to ensure brand leadership is by working towards building a sustainable workplace safety culture, one which is not dependent on individuals. How can COR™ make a difference to your safety culture? Take a look at your organization. What is the focus of your culture? Is it one that looks for fault and is busy pointing fingers, or is it one that focuses on prevention? Your safety culture needs to define how every action and reaction is approached. A strong culture embraces an open door policy where there are no “dictators”; faultfinding does not exist. Instead, it is a solution-based environment where ead: The COR™ Journey m Compliance to Culture – The Amazing COR™ Journey e of Recognition (COR™) is a term that has constantly been buzzing in the Ontario construction industry ast year or two. To qualify for bidding on jobs of top organizations such as Metrolinx, TTC, City of GTAA, York Region, and Infrastructure Ontario including other top municipalities, companies need to be tified. Companies that are already registered for COR™ in Ontario, and that are going through the process, will know that the COR™ journey involves the three key pillars – health and safety management system (HSMS), well-defined processes, and safety culture. However, very soon, they will realize the significance of having a good safety culture for creating and sustaining COR™ year after year. Down their COR™ journey, companies start realizing the fact that maintaining COR™ status in the years to come without having a strong safety culture in place will be one challenging task. This is where a company’s journey from compliance to culture begins. What is safety culture? e safety culture can be best defined as one that starts with “I” e organization and moves along with “we.” It’s one where is responsible for workplace safety. It encourages workers to lth and safety as a core responsibility rather than just a requirement. 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