For the purposes of the Certificate of Recognition program (COR), large employers are considered to be those with 20 or more employees. The larger your staff and payroll, the larger your financial incentive once you have achieved certification.

Ski Patrollers at Silver Star Mountain Resort

There are two kinds of certification that can be achieved: the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) COR audit and the Return-to-Work (RTW)/Injury Management COR audit. Successful completion of the OHS COR qualifies employers for a 10 per cent incentive on their WorkSafeBC base premiums, while successful completion of the RTW COR qualifies employers for an additional five per cent.

Companies registered in WorkSafeBC’s classification units 761017 (hotels), 761038 (ski hills or gondola rides), 761035 (restaurants or other dining establishments) and 761034 (pubs, bars, nightclubs or lounges) are eligible to register. However, the program is available to all hospitality and tourism employers that are naturally aligned with these categories, so applications from employers not specifically mentioned above will be reviewed individually.

You can choose to audit all classification units that apply to your business or you can have separate audits performed on selected classification units within your operation. The incentive received for successfully completing the audits will be based on your company's reported assessable payroll for the classification units included in the audit.

In order to qualify for COR as a large employer, a certification audit is completed by an external auditor. To pass this audit, a total score of 80 per cent must be attained, and a minimum of 50 per cent must be scored on each audit element. This certification audit is valid for three years. In the following two years, the same audit process is used for internal or maintenance audits. The main purpose of the internal/maintenance audit is to identify and correct deficiencies in the management system.

COR is a voluntary program. Participation in the COR program enhances your firm’s health and safety program with the goal of reducing injuries and claims costs. Plus, your company will be eligible for a significant financial incentive.