SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A nationally-accredited health and safety occupation program is gaining steam in the NWT, according to the Northern Construction Safety Association.

Three years ago, the association became the exclusive granting authority in the NWT for the Certificate of Recognition - COR for short.

Simply put, COR is the highest distinction for contractors to reach when it comes to their health and safety protocol, trademarked and endorsed by participating members of the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Association. The Northern Construction Safety Association, which represents both the NWT and Nunavut, is affiliated with the national association.

The average cost to certify a company is $20,000.

"It's been developed and licensed to provincial associations as an employer-generated safety program, as opposed to coming through Workers' Safety and Compensation and Commission," said Bob Doherty, president of NCSA.

According to the association, COR is rapidly becoming a key criteria of construction contracts granted by the federal government and other large development companies.

"The federal government has been asking for a certified safety program to be a stipulation of contracts they tender for some time, but they haven't specified COR," said Doherty. "Over time, though, the federal government and the major employers here will start asking for COR."

Soon, the GNWT will also be making COR a necessary qualifier for companies wishing to place a winning bid on its tenders, said Doherty.

"We're recommending to the territorial government that it take a two-year transition period," said Doherty. "You don't want to start it today when you've got a whole bunch of smaller companies who can't afford to do that."

The advantages of COR are many, he said. Doherty's companies, Fire Prevention Services Ltd. and Canada North Projects Ltd., were in the process of becoming certified as of mid-March.

While COR is not yet recognized as a program that can help lower the insurance rates paid by companies to the Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission, it is transferable from one province to another - or one territory to another province. That means health and safety programs developed by companies operating in one province or territory are recognized in another areas of Canada.

"It allows you access to contracts in other jurisdictions," said Doherty.

Companies undergoing COR certification must have some of their employees, including a senior member of the company, register and complete four health and safety courses. That member then passes on the knowledge to other company employees. Then an audit is conducted in which a qualified auditor selected by the NCSA quizzes the employees about their safety protocol.

"You can sometimes get contracts by giving a copy of your safety manual to the people that are tendering. The owner (of the company) is not actually going to check and see if your program is in place. You send them a copy of it and they say, 'OK. You've got a safety program.'

"But with COR, you have to get it certified and you can only get certified through an audit. A big part of the audit is that they interview employees, so employees have to be aware of the safety programs," said Doherty.

Kevin Stapleton, controller for Nahanni Construction Ltd. (one of the most recent COR-certified companies in the NWT) said the audit is a crucial part of the accreditation process, preventing companies from resting on their laurels when it comes to safety.

"I think that's the whole point behind COR is it doesn't allow companies to just say, 'Yeah. We're safe.' It forces you to prove that," said Stapleton.

Doherty said there are 20 to 30 construction companies in the NWT and Nunavut already accredited under COR, and more are on the way.

"The main benefit is that the company's going to be safer," he said.