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Calgary Safety Consultants helps employers earn and keep COR or SECOR certification, improve audit readiness, close safety program gaps, and maintain the documentation needed to support client, contractor, and certification requirements.
Whether you are pursuing COR for the first time, preparing for an audit, responding to corrective actions, or trying to keep your safety program current, we help you understand what is required, what is missing, and what needs to happen next.
We provide practical COR consulting and safety program support for employers across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan.
Projects are led by John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP, a Canadian Registered Safety Professional, certified COR auditor and external auditor with Energy Safety Canada. Calgary Safety Consultants also holds its own SECOR, with Energy Safety Canada as our certifying partner, so we’ve been through the process we help you prepare for.
Serving employers on site across Alberta, British Columbia and Saskatchewan, and online across Canada.
Starting SECOR?
A health and safety manual, five formal hazard assessments, up to 10 safe work practices and about 18 forms, set up for your company and reviewed by a certified COR auditor. Recommended for small employers working toward SECOR.
COR and SECOR
Many employers start the COR or SECOR process because a client, prime contractor, owner, tender package, or prequalification system requires proof of a functioning safety program.
For some businesses, the safety manual is already in place, but the records are incomplete. For others, the program exists on paper but is not being used consistently by supervisors and workers. Some employers have training certificates, inspections, hazard assessments, and incident forms stored in different locations, making audit preparation stressful and time-consuming.
COR consulting helps bring the program together.
The goal is not only to prepare documents for an audit. The goal is to build and maintain a safety system that reflects the work being performed, supports supervisors, organizes evidence, and helps the employer demonstrate due diligence.
A strong safety program can also support client confidence, bid opportunities, operational consistency, claims management, worker engagement, and audit performance.
COR and SECOR support for employersSafety programs built around the work you do
Show your program is in useRecords that match the work, ready for auditThe bigger picture
A safety manual is important, but COR readiness depends on more than written policies.
Employers also need evidence that the safety program is active. This may include training records, hazard assessments, inspection records, incident investigation files, emergency response documents, corrective action tracking, meeting records, maintenance records, safe work practices, and supervisor follow-up.
A common problem is that the manual, forms, and records do not match the actual work being performed. When that happens, the employer may have difficulty showing that the program is implemented, reviewed, and maintained.
For example, a company may have a policy that says supervisors complete inspections, but inspection records are inconsistent or missing. Another company may have hazard assessment forms, but they may not reflect current tasks, equipment, work locations, or contractor activities.
These gaps can affect audit readiness, client prequalification, supervisor accountability, claims exposure, and the employer’s ability to show that safety requirements are being managed in practice.
Why it matters
COR and SECOR preparation should not be treated as a last-minute paperwork exercise.
When safety records are disorganized, outdated, or incomplete, employers may spend too much time trying to find evidence instead of improving the safety system. This creates pressure before an audit and can lead to missed corrective actions, weak documentation, unclear responsibilities, and avoidable delays.
Good preparation helps the employer understand the current condition of the safety program before the audit or review takes place.
This allows the business to identify gaps early, update documentation, organize records, clarify supervisor responsibilities, review training needs, improve inspection and hazard assessment processes, and track corrective actions to completion.
The business impact is practical. Better preparation can support audit performance, reduce administrative stress, improve operational control, strengthen client confidence, and make the safety program easier to maintain after certification.
The process
A Certificate of Recognition (COR) shows that a certified auditor has evaluated your health and safety management system and found that it meets provincial standards. The Small Employer COR (SECOR) is the version for small employers.
COR and SECOR are certification programs, not substitutes for legal compliance or effective field implementation. Eligibility, required training, audit instruments, evidence periods, maintenance cycles and auditor authorization vary by province, industry, Certifying Partner and current protocol. We confirm the governing program and version before defining the work.
Alberta has 13 authorized Certifying Partners, most of them industry safety associations. Your partner sets the course requirements and coordinates your audit or evaluation.
For example, ACSA’s SECOR requires a full-time employee to complete Principles of Health and Safety Management for Small Employer COR (or an equivalent course) and one industry-specific safety course. Our online COR and SECOR training can help your leaders understand the whole process before or alongside those courses, but it doesn’t replace them.
Your manual, hazard assessments, inspections, training records and corrective actions need to reflect the work you actually do. ACSA asks for at least three months of records before a SECOR evaluation.
For an Alberta COR, the external audit must be completed by a qualified auditor who did not develop your system. The current provincial pass standard is at least 80% overall and at least 50% in each audit element. SECOR uses an assessment or evaluation process reviewed by the applicable Certifying Partner; the detailed process must be confirmed with that partner.
Certificate terms, maintenance audits or evaluations, transition rules and Partnerships in Injury Reduction eligibility depend on the certificate type and Certifying Partner. A three-year certification cycle normally requires maintenance work in the intervening years, but employers should confirm the current schedule before planning an audit or evaluation.
Alberta describes SECOR as the program for businesses with up to 10 employees and provides a transition path for employers that grow beyond the small-employer limit. Certifying Partners may apply detailed counting and eligibility rules. For example, ACSA considers whether the employer had more than 10 employees at any time during the past 12 months and counts the people covered by the employer’s WCB-Alberta account.
Timelines depend on where your program starts. ACSA needs at least three months of records before a SECOR evaluation, so most small employers should plan for several months from start to certificate. Our Starter Safety Manual Package, recommended for SECOR, is $1,995 plus GST. Other COR support is quoted per project, and Certifying Partner memberships and course fees are separate.
In British Columbia, COR is a voluntary WorkSafeBC program for employers whose health and safety management system goes beyond the legal minimum. Here is how COR certification in BC works:
We help BC employers with program development, gap reviews and audit preparation. The certificate itself comes through your certifying partner and WorkSafeBC after a passed audit.
Saskatchewan: For construction employers, the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association (SCSA) administers COR and SECOR. Its current SECOR steps list Safety Management, Safety Auditor Fundamentals with proficiency, Leadership for Safety Excellence with proficiency and SCOT, followed by program implementation and a baseline external audit. The published milestones require the training, program and manual within 12 months and the external audit within the following six months; certified companies submit an annual audit and are audited by SCSA every three years. Employers should confirm SECOR eligibility directly with SCSA before relying on an employee threshold because its current public program page uses inconsistent wording for that limit.
Be cautious of anyone who guarantees that you will obtain COR or SECOR. No consultant controls your company’s implementation, the audit findings, the Certifying Partner’s quality-assurance review or the final certification decision. Before relying on any guarantee, ask—in writing—exactly what is being guaranteed.
No consultant, safety manual provider or auditor can promise that your business will obtain COR or SECOR before the required certification process is completed.
Certification depends on more than purchasing a manual or hiring a consultant. Your business must develop and implement a health and safety management system, maintain the required records and demonstrate that the system is working. The audit or evaluation may include document review, worker and supervisor interviews, workplace observations and a quality-assurance review by your Certifying Partner.
In Alberta, the Certifying Partner reviews the audit or SECOR evaluation, and a successful COR is issued jointly by the Certifying Partner and the Government of Alberta. The consultant preparing your program does not control that decision.
A qualified consultant can help you understand the requirements, build a practical safety program, identify gaps, prepare your people, organize audit evidence and correct problems before submission. That preparation can substantially improve your readiness, but it is not an ethical or credible basis for guaranteeing a third party’s certification decision.
Calgary Safety Consultants will provide a clear scope, practical deliverables and candid advice about your readiness. We can’t guarantee that your company will obtain COR or SECOR, because your certifying partner makes that decision. Our COR and SECOR program builds include a documentation warranty: if your first COR audit or SECOR evaluation within 12 months of delivery finds something missing from the written documents we delivered, we’ll fix it at no additional charge. Every formal document we deliver also carries a 60-day errors and omissions warranty.
How we help
Calgary Safety Consultants provides practical COR consulting and safety program support based on the condition of your current program, your audit timeline, your industry, your workforce, and the requirements you need to meet.
We hold ourselves to the same standard. Calgary Safety Consultants earned its own Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) in 2026, with Energy Safety Canada as our certifying partner. That first-hand experience of building the records, submitting a SECOR audit and planning for annual maintenance audits shapes the advice we give you. Read about our SECOR certification.
We start by learning about your business, your current safety program, your COR or SECOR status, your certifying partner or audit expectations, and any client or contractor requirements that are driving the need for support.
We can review your safety manual, policies, procedures, hazard assessments, inspection records, training records, emergency response documents, incident reports, meeting records, maintenance records, and corrective action tracking.
From there, we identify what is missing, outdated, unclear, duplicated, impractical, or not aligned with the work being performed.
We then help develop a practical action plan that explains what needs to be created, updated, organized, implemented, verified, or maintained.
Our support may include:
If your records are spread across paper forms, spreadsheets and shared folders, digital safety management with Site App Pro can keep completed forms, training records, signatures and corrective actions in one place, so audit evidence is easier to retrieve.
The goal is to help your business move from uncertainty to a clear, organized, and practical path forward.
COR audits
John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP, is a certified COR auditor and an external auditor with Energy Safety Canada. We audit health and safety management systems for employers who need an objective, evidence-based check.
Tell us who your certifying partner is and we’ll confirm we can audit for them. In Alberta, the consultant who helped develop your health and safety management system can’t also audit it, so we’ll tell you at the start whether we can be your auditor or should help you prepare for someone else’s audit.
COR services and guides
Choose the level of COR support that fits where you are:
COR and SECOR Training
Our self-paced online course, COR and SECOR Readiness for Employers, takes owners, managers and program leads through the road to a certificate of recognition and how to keep it.
Also check out the following resources:
Alberta Partnerships in Injury Reduction
Official Government of Alberta PIR page.
WCB Alberta Partnerships in Injury Reduction
Official WCB Alberta PIR page.
WorkSafeBC Certificate of Recognition
Official WorkSafeBC COR page.
Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association COR/SECOR
Official SCSA COR/SECOR page.
Common questions
Answers to common questions about COR and SECOR preparation, audits and costs.
COR consulting is practical support that helps employers prepare for COR or SECOR, review safety program gaps, organize documentation, improve audit readiness, and maintain the systems needed to support certification requirements. It may include safety manual review, training record review, hazard assessment support, inspection process review, corrective action planning, and supervisor guidance.
Calgary Safety Consultants can help you prepare for the COR or SECOR process by reviewing your current safety program, identifying gaps, updating documentation, organizing audit evidence, and helping your team understand what needs to happen next. We can’t guarantee that your company will obtain COR or SECOR, because your certifying partner makes that decision. Our COR and SECOR program builds include a documentation warranty: if your first COR audit or SECOR evaluation within 12 months of delivery finds something missing from the written documents we delivered, we’ll fix it at no additional charge. Every formal document we deliver also carries a 60-day errors and omissions warranty.
Common records may include safety policies, hazard assessments, inspection reports, training records, meeting minutes, emergency response documentation, incident investigation records, maintenance records, corrective action records, safe work procedures, and evidence that supervisors and workers are using the safety program in daily operations.
In Alberta, SECOR is for employers with no more than 10 employees at any time in the past 12 months, and it uses a self-assessment that you submit to your Certifying Partner. Larger employers need COR, which requires an external audit by a qualified auditor. In Saskatchewan, SCSA’s SECOR is for companies with nine or fewer employees, including owners, full-time, part-time and casual workers, and subcontractors.
At least 80% overall, with a minimum of 50% in each audit element.
It depends on where your program starts and your audit deadline. ACSA needs at least three months of records before a SECOR evaluation, and in Saskatchewan SCSA allows 12 months to complete the training and build the program, followed by an external audit within six months. Some employers only need a focused readiness review; others need program development, record organization and corrective action planning first.
Yes. Calgary Safety Consultants can help employers maintain their safety program between audits by reviewing documentation, updating policies and procedures, organizing training records, improving inspection and hazard assessment processes, tracking corrective actions, and preparing for maintenance or re-certification reviews.
Not always. Some employers need regular safety support but do not require a full-time safety employee. External COR consulting and safety program support can help keep documentation, training records, inspections, hazard assessments, corrective actions, and supervisor expectations organized between audits.
Yes. John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP, is a certified COR auditor. In Alberta, a consultant who helped develop a health and safety management system can’t also audit it, so we confirm at the start whether we can audit your program or help you prepare for an audit by someone else.
Our Starter Safety Manual Package is $1,995 plus GST. It includes a health and safety manual, five formal hazard assessments, up to 10 safe work practices and about 18 forms, set up for your company.
Talk to a safety consultant
Need help with COR or SECOR preparation, safety manual updates, audit readiness, corrective actions, training records, hazard assessments, inspections, or ongoing safety program maintenance? Book a free 30-minute consultation with Calgary Safety Consultants. We will review your situation, identify the next practical step, and explain how we can help you prepare, improve, or maintain your safety program.
Before the external audit
We assess safety records, representative worker and supervisor readiness, and workplace implementation, then provide a prioritized report showing what to address before a COR or SECOR audit.
Explore the COR Readiness ReviewFrom $2,499.99 + GSTRelated case study
See how an Alberta employer with three warehouse locations used a mock COR audit, a practical implementation plan and six months of support to rebuild its safety program before successfully completing an independent external audit.
Read the warehouse compliance and COR case studyBefore you reach out
Your path and prices
Every step below has a published starting price, and your price is confirmed in writing before any work begins. Each project is led by John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP, a certified COR auditor and external auditor with Energy Safety Canada.
We can’t guarantee that your company will obtain COR or SECOR, because your certifying partner makes that decision. Our COR and SECOR documentation warranty covers the written documents we deliver.
Client reviews
We needed help preparing for COR, and Calgary Safety Consultants gave us clear direction from the start. Their support helped us organize our documentation, improve our safety processes, and feel much more prepared for the audit.
Great experience from start to finish. Calgary Safety Consultants helped us prepare for an audit, clean up our records, and better understand what evidence we needed to show compliance.
Calgary Safety Consultants made our safety program much easier to understand and implement. They took the time to explain what was required, what was missing, and how to fix it without making the process feel overwhelming.
How we work together
We work with employers who want to improve. The best results come when owners, managers and supervisors take an active part in the work, rather than handing it to an outside consultant and waiting for a finished binder. We bring the expertise, the structure and the follow-up. You bring leadership, time and a commitment to act on what we find.
If you only want paperwork that sits on a shelf, we're probably not the right fit. If you want a safer workplace, a program your workers trust and an audit you can walk into with confidence, we'd like to work with you. We'll talk about this openly during your free 30-minute consultation, so we both know it's a good fit before any work begins.
As the employer, you keep your legal duties under OHS legislation. We advise, organize and support. You make the decisions and direct the work. Our work makes your supervisors, internal safety coordinator, and safety committee or representative more effective. It doesn't replace them.
Our delivery dates start at project kickoff and assume your information, feedback and approvals arrive when agreed. If they're delayed, the schedule moves with them. If a project stalls, we'll raise it with you directly and agree on a plan to get it back on track, or pause it until you're ready.
We'll tell you what you need to hear, not just what you want to hear. Audit, certification and inspection decisions belong to your certifying partner or regulator, so no consultant can guarantee the outcome. What we can promise is practical, credible work and honest advice about what it will take.
Our services are not an emergency response service. If someone is seriously hurt or in danger, call 911 first, then make any reports your provincial OHS regulator requires. Once the scene is safe, contact us and we'll help you with next steps.
Book a Free 30-Minute ConsultationFree Safety Guides
Contractor prequalification in Canada: what clients ask for, TRIF math, WCB clearance letters by province, and how to pass ISNetworld, Avetta and ComplyWorks.
How COR audit interviews work in Canada: who gets interviewed, how answers are scored, what auditors ask and how to prepare your people without scripts.
How to prepare for a SECOR evaluation anywhere in Canada: small-employer programs by province, the training, 12 months of records and keeping your SECOR.
