The Certificate of Recognition (COR) is a national construction safety-program audit standard, administered provincially — in Ontario by IHSA — that a firm earns only by scoring at least 65% on every individual audit element and at least 80% overall, so a single weak element can fail an otherwise strong audit.
The scoring rule is fixed nationally: “with one common audit instrument utilized across Canada, the national standard is clear: minimum 65% in each element and an overall audit score of 80%”. “IHSA is the ‘Authority having Jurisdiction’ to grant COR® in the province of Ontario”, and the program is “nationally trademarked and endorsed by participating members of the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Associations (CFCSA)” — each province runs its own certifying body under that shared standard.
“The COR® program began in Alberta more than 20 years ago” and has since been “enhanced to COR® 2020”. IHSA requires pre-payment before it will schedule an audit review, and publishes no fixed fee — firms are directed to contact IHSA directly for a quote rather than working from a posted price.
A contractor’s COR audit scores Leadership 90%, Hazard Assessment 88%, Training 85%, Incident Investigation 92%, and Emergency Preparedness 55%. The weighted overall average comes out around 85% — comfortably clear of the 80% overall bar. But because Emergency Preparedness sits at 55%, below the 65% floor required on every single element, the firm fails the audit outright despite the strong overall number, and must remediate that one element and be re-audited before COR is granted.
See also: Type 1, 2 and 3 asbestos operations · What OHSA paperwork does an Ontario site need?.
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