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What SECOR Is and Who Issues It
SECOR stands for Small Employer Certificate of Recognition. It's the small-business stream of the Certificate of Recognition (COR) program, a voluntary Government of Alberta program delivered with industry certifying partners through Partnerships in Injury Reduction. Alberta awards a COR to employers that develop health and safety programs meeting established standards, and SECOR is the version for businesses with up to 10 employees.
Each employer works with a certifying partner, an industry safety association that sets the audit protocol and reviews the employer's submission. Ours is Energy Safety Canada. Under its process, a small employer develops and implements a health and safety management system using the Energy Safety Canada SECOR protocol, then submits its audit and supporting documentation for a quality assurance review.
Our certificate details are below, so clients and prime contractors can confirm them during prequalification:
- Certificate holder: 2597951 Alberta Ltd. (Calgary Safety Consultants)
- Certificate type: Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR)
- Certifying partner: Energy Safety Canada
- Certificate number: 20261015-SE8366
- Expiry date: October 15, 2029
Energy Safety Canada also keeps a list of employers holding a valid COR or SECOR with it as their certifying partner, which can be used to check a certificate.
Why SECOR Certification Matters to Us
Much of our work involves helping employers prepare for COR and SECOR. We review their manuals, build their hazard assessments and forms, and help them organize the records an auditor will ask to see. Earning our own SECOR means our program has now been through the same kind of evaluation we prepare our clients for.
It also keeps us honest. Calgary Safety Consultants is a small firm, and most of our work is office-based, but the job still carries real hazards: driving to client sites across Western Canada, working alone, and walking industrial sites during assessments and audits. Our program controls those risks the way we'd expect a client's program to, with hazard assessments, a working alone check-in procedure, scheduled vehicle and PPE inspections, and training and inspection records that show the controls are actually in place.
Building those records ourselves was a useful reminder of what we ask of clients. A written manual is only the start. The SECOR certificate recognizes two things: that the program was developed and implemented, and that it met the standard through an evaluation. Implementation is the part that takes discipline, month after month.
Quick answer
What Our SECOR Certification Means for Clients
For the employers we work with, our SECOR has a few practical benefits:
- We can show a valid SECOR when owners, prime contractors or vendor-management systems ask contractors for one during prequalification, including when we work on your site.
- Our COR and SECOR advice comes from recent, first-hand experience with Energy Safety Canada's SECOR process, not only from reviewing other employers' programs.
- We know what it takes to turn a manual into records an evaluator can verify, because we've just done it with our own program.
- We hold ourselves to the same standard we recommend to you, and we have to keep meeting it every year.
None of this replaces your own certification. Your COR or SECOR depends on your program, your records and your people.
What SECOR Doesn't Change About How We Work
Our certificate doesn't change the guardrails we work by. Calgary Safety Consultants provides COR and SECOR consulting, program development and audit-preparation support. We don't issue COR or SECOR certificates, and no consultant can guarantee one. Certification depends on the employer's implementation, the evidence available and the independent certification process.
Our independence rules stay in place too. We won't complete an external audit on a safety program we built or helped develop. If we prepared your program, an independent auditor should evaluate it. You can read more about these commitments on our Ethics and Integrity page.
Keeping Our SECOR Current
A SECOR isn't a one-time achievement. Alberta treats a certificate as valid for three years from the date of issue, provided the maintenance requirements are met. Energy Safety Canada requires SECOR holders to complete a maintenance audit each year, and missing one means losing the certificate.
For us, that means a maintenance audit in each of the next two years, with October as our annual due date, followed by recertification before the certificate expires on October 15, 2029. We'll treat those audits the way we tell clients to: as an honest check on whether the program is still working, with the findings used to improve it. That approach reflects the plan, do, check and act cycle behind ISO 45001, the international standard for occupational health and safety management systems.
Our own example
How We Earned Our SECOR
Situation: As a small consulting firm that helps employers prepare for COR and SECOR, we needed our own program to meet the standard we recommend, and to satisfy clients who ask contractors for COR or SECOR during prequalification.
Action: We wrote and implemented our Occupational Health and Safety Manual, which took effect on August 1, 2026, and built the inspection, training and hazard assessment records it calls for. We selected Energy Safety Canada as our certifying partner at the end of September and submitted our SECOR audit through Energy Safety Canada's Auditor Portal on October 15, 2026.
Result: Following Energy Safety Canada's review, we received our Small Employer Certificate of Recognition, certificate 20261015-SE8366, signed by Energy Safety Canada and the Government of Alberta. It's valid until October 15, 2029, subject to annual maintenance.
How we help
How Calgary Safety Consultants Can Help
If your business is working toward COR or SECOR, we can help you build, check and maintain a program that holds up at audit and on the job. We've now been through the SECOR process ourselves, and we bring that experience to every project.
These pages are a good place to start:
Final Thoughts
Earning our SECOR is a milestone for Calgary Safety Consultants, but it isn't the finish line. It shows that we apply our own advice, and it commits us to keep showing it every year.
If you're working toward COR or SECOR, or need to show a client that your safety program is real and working, Book a Free 30-Minute Consultation with Calgary Safety Consultants, or call us at 1-888-231-0358.
Jurisdiction note: The SECOR described in this article is Alberta's program under Partnerships in Injury Reduction. British Columbia, Saskatchewan and other provinces run their own COR or SECOR programs with their own certifying partners and rules, and owners may set their own prequalification requirements. Confirm what your province and your client accept.
References
- Government of Alberta, Get a Certificate of Recognition (COR). https://www.alberta.ca/get-certificate-recognition
- Government of Alberta, Maintain or renew a COR. https://www.alberta.ca/maintain-renew-cor
- Energy Safety Canada, SECOR Program. https://energysafetycanada.com/COR/CORSECOR/SECOR
- Energy Safety Canada, Maintaining your SECOR. https://energysafetycanada.com/COR/CORSECOR/SECOR/Maintaining-your-SECOR
- Energy Safety Canada, COR and SECOR Overview (including COR holders). https://www.energysafetycanada.com/cor-secor-overview
- International Organization for Standardization, ISO 45001:2018 Occupational health and safety management systems, Requirements with guidance for use. https://www.iso.org/standard/63787.html
About the author
John Duplessis, B.Sc., CRSP
John Duplessis is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional with more than 30 years of occupational health and safety experience in oil and gas, construction, green energy, midstream operations, and industrial project work.
