LANGLEY, B.C. — The Trucking Safety Council of B.C. launched the first stage of its Certificate of Recognition (COR) program this past week with its pilot aimed at large employers in the B.C. trucking industry.

The COR program awards WorkSafeBC premium rebates to companies that complete the program and demonstrate a recognized level of health and safety compliance.

Various courses were presented to companies who have 20 or more employees and representatives from up to 12 companies attended each course.

Courses offered in the pilot program ranged from a half-day to two days in duration and included: Senior Management/Owner, Return to Work, External Auditor and Health and Safety Management.

COR uses a top-down approach to changing the health and safety culture of an organization by focusing on management, giving them the tools necessary to make positive changes that will be reflected in the health and safety practices of the company.

The Large Employer COR program involves several steps that lead to COR certification and the eventual WorkSafeBC rebate, beginning with the mandatory COR courses that are attended by company owners, managers and supervisors.

Once training is complete, companies undergo an external review of their health and safety management program performed by a TSCBC COR trained external auditor. Once certified by the audit process, the company then qualifies for the WorkSafeBC rebates.

In addition to WorkSafeBC incentives, TSCBC says there are many benefits for companies who participate in the COR program, such as a safer, healthier workforce that boosts productivity, use of the COR logo to boost corporate image, an effective management system for return to work programs and demonstrated management commitment to health and safety.

The COR program is new to B.C.’s trucking industry, but has existed in the province since 2003 in other industries, such as forestry, construction and tourism. The TSCBC hopes to duplicate COR success seen in other provinces, such as the 40 percent reduction in lost time and disabling injury claims attributed to COR in Alberta.

The next phase of TSCBC’s COR program will be to initialize the development of the small employer (four to 19 employee) COR pilot program, followed by the very small employer (one to three employee) pilot program.