All employers in British Columbia are eligible to participate in the Certificate of Recognition (COR) program.  

1. Apply to participate in a voluntary certification program through WorkSafeBC
   
2. Register with a  COR Certifying Partner 
3. Complete the Safety Management Systems and Internal Auditor Training courses
4. Arrange for an external auditor to perform the audit 
5. Become COR-certified and save money through an improved experience rating and financial incentive 

Note: You must receive an overall audit score of 80%  to become COR-certified (with a minimum score of 50% for each audit element).

If you’re curious about COR but don’t want to take the leap, connect with one of our health and safety consultants. Our Tailored Outreach Program (TOP) is the perfect stepping stone. Think of TOP as your mini-COR audit! It’s a free program for our members. We have a dedicated team of health and safety experts who can provide you with a gap analysis, an action plan, one-on-one consultative services, and industry-specific resources to support your health and safety management system.  

Download our poster: Certificate of Recognition in five easy steps

Certifying Partners are organizations—typically health and safety associations—contracted by WorkSafeBC to help guide you through the certificate of recognition process.

Healthcare does not currently have a certifying partner. Under consultation with WorkSafeBC, employers without a certified partner can choose a naturally aligned certifying partner.  The BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA) is currently the naturally aligned certifying partner for healthcare. 

More information about naturally aligned certifying partners, the Partners Program can be found here. 

Questions can be directed to the WorkSafeBC Partners Program by: 

• Phone: (604) 244-6164 or toll-free at (866) 644-6164
• Email: partners.program@worksafebc.com 

Long-term care, home care, community health support, community social services, and healthcare do not currently have a certifying partner.

However, We have teamed up with our naturally aligned certifying partner, the BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA) to ensure you are supported through the certificate of recognition process.

SafeCare BC and the BCMSA have developed tailored auditor guidelines to enhance the experience and reflect the unique health and safety needs of our members. These customized auditor guidelines reflect the needs of our members and the healthcare sector. 

Using the BCMSA as your certifying partner ensures that internal auditors have familiar language to contextualize the audit questions, and external auditors are familiar with our health and safety needs.

COR-certification is valid for three years.

The financial benefits continue through the three years if you are in good standing with WorkSafeBC and the internal maintenance audits are completed on schedule. 

Three-year COR audit cycle: 

• Year one: Certifying Audit (externally audited) 
• Year two: Maintenance Audit (internally audited) 
• Year three: Maintenance Audit (internally audited) 
• Year four: Re-certifying audit* (externally audited) 

* Re-certifying audit follows the same process as a year one certifying audit 

COR financial incentives are applied as credits to your WorkSafeBC account. The credits are calculated based on an organization’s assessable payroll and classification unit (CU) base rate. 

Calculation: Assessable payroll x (CU base rate / $100) x 10% = savings available for successful completion of the COR audit.

Definitions:

COR financial incentives: Financial incentives are calculated using 10% of your organization’s base assessment premiums.

Assessable payroll: The amount of payroll used to calculate an employer’s assessment amount within a given classification unit.

Classification unit: A classification unit is part of WorkSafeBC’s classification system that groups employers from similar industries and similar risk levels.

Base rate: An industries base rate reflects the risk of injury and the historical claims costs.

Long-term care  

• Classification Unit (CU): 766011
• Base rate: 4.54% (or $4.54 per $100) of assessable payroll

Large employer assessable payroll, if your organization reports payroll as $11,000,000 and your base rate is 4.54% ($4.54 per $100): 

$11,000,000 x ($4.54 / $100) x 10% = $49,940.00 

Small employer assessable payroll, if your organization reports payroll as $1,000,000 and your base rate is 4.54% ($4.54 per $100): 

$1,500,000 x ($4.54 / $100) x 10% = $6,810.00 

Examples are based on 2024 data. The total annual WorkSafeBC incentives are calculated based on the previous years base rate and assessable payroll. Current information on your classification unit can be found here. 

Community health support  

• Classification Unit (CU): 766006
• Base rate: 3.47% (or $3.47 per $100) of assessable payroll

Large employer assessable payroll, if your organization reports payroll as $25,000,000 and your base rate is 3.47% (or $3.47 per $100): 

$25,000,000 x ($3.47 / $100) x 10% = $86,750.00 

Small employer assessable payroll, if your organization reports payroll as $1,000,000 and your base rate is 3.47% (or $3.47 per $100): 

$1,000,000 x ($3.47 / $100) x 10% = $3,470.00 

Examples are based on 2024 data. The annual WorkSafeBC incentives are calculated based on the previous year's base rate and assessable payroll. Current information on your classification unit can be found here. 

The annual 10% financial incentive credit will be applied as long as your organization maintains their COR status and remains in good standing with WorkSafeBC. 

The occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS) includes the administration and function of all components of a health and safety program. These include: 

• Commitment from management 
• Hazard identification, risk assessments and controls 
• Written safe work procedures 
• Training, education and instructions  
• Supervision 
• Inspections 
• Incident investigations 
• Participation of workers and the JOHS Committees’/ worker representatives  
• Annual audit process for each health and safety component
  

Have you noticed that these COR elements are already required under legislation? Your health and safety management system is likely already meeting COR requirements!  

Internal auditors are employees familiar with your organization and its health and safety management system. The employee must complete the two-day internal auditor training course, agree to the auditor’s code of ethics and complete the student audit assignment within the parameters of the course.   

The BC Municipal Safety Association requires internal auditors to: 

• Complete the two-day internal auditor training course 
• Submit their student audit within three months of course completion 
• Perform two maintenance audits within the three years 
• Complete seven additional hours of internal auditor training over the three years
  

Internal auditors hold their certification for three years.

Traits of an effective auditor include:

• Good communication skills (verbal and written) 
• Strong knowledge of workplace processes and industry 
• Good time management skills 
• Ability to write reports and collect data (documentation, interviews and observations) 
• Strong principles

The certification process involves the employer, the certifying partner, the internal auditor, and SafeCare BC. The roles and responsibilities of each party are listed below:

Employer 

• Signs up for the WorkSafeBC Certificate of Recognition (COR) program 
• Completes the registration form 
• Identifies and trains internal auditor(s)  
• Completes the Safety Management System course (BCMSA requirement) 
• Develops or modifies health and safety program 
• Hires and schedules an external auditor, from the certifying partner list
  • Employers with less than 20 employees can use an internal auditor 
• Prepares for the certification audit 
• Performs and submits annual maintenance audits in year two and three
  

Workers

• Promote workplace health and safety
• Participate education, trainng and COR audit interviews, as required
• Tell your employer if you’re interested in being an internal COR auditor

Certifying Partner 

• Registers an interested employer 
• Provides employer with information, guidance, resources and support 
• Trains internal auditors  
• Trains and maintains a list of suitable external auditors 
• Develops industry-appropriate audit requirements 
• Helps an organization determine the audit scope and parameters  
• Conducts the quality assurance review of auditors' reports before submission to WorkSafeBC 
• Submits final audit results to WorkSafeBC 
• Awards COR certificate, when achieved
• Maintains support for active COR organizations 
• Reminders for upcoming maintenance audits 
• Processes certification renewals 
• Provides audit process updates  

External Auditors*

• Submits the notice to audit to the certifying partner
• Conducts audits and collects data on the health and safety program 
• Submits completed audit report to the employer and certifying partner 

*Small employers with less than 20 employees may have audits performed by internal auditors. 

Internal Auditors 

• Maintains internal auditor training 
• Abides by auditor code of ethics
• Actively reviews ongoing activities for action plan throughout the year
• Reviews the previous audits in advance of upcoming internal maintenance audit
  
• Conducts maintenance audits in years two and three to maintain certification status
  

SafeCare BC 

• Provides free, comprehensive, personalized, one-on-one consultative services  
• Maintains industry-tailored resources, education and support for the OHSMS 
• Conducts gap analysis and creates action plans through the Tailored Outreach Program (TOP) – a mini COR audit 
• Maintains industry-specific COR audit guidelines SafeCare BC Large-Employer-Audit-Spreadsheet  
• Provides expert assistance in interpreting employer reports, claims costs, injury rates, non-compliance orders and an employer AuditSoft Scorecard  
• Delivers weekly newsletter on important health and safety matters
  

WorkSafeBC 

• Approves COR applications 
• Supports the certifying partners 
• Verifies employer details for COR certification 
• Calculates and administers financial incentives 
  

Yes, we have long-term care and community health support members who are proudly COR-certified.  

Want to join the list of COR-certified SafeCare BC members? 

• Connect with one of our SafeCare BC consultants 
• Review the BC Municipal Safety Association (BCMSA) COR webpage