By Lanny McInnes
Certification ensures quality working conditions
This past week, the Construction Safety Association of Manitoba (CSAM) held its annual safety conference at the RBC convention centre. This conference, recognized as one of the best construction safety conferences in Canada, offers local construction companies quality safety training courses and workshops. Many Manitoba Home Builders’ Association (MHBA) members attend this conference to learn about new safety practices and equipment being used on residential construction worksites.
Safety is an important issue for the MHBA and our members. The Manitoba Home Builders’ Association requires all of its builder members to be Certificate of Recognition (COR) and Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) certified as part of our membership criteria. The COR program is the ultimate accreditation to verify companies that have implemented a comprehensive health and safety program. This program provides industry employers with an effective safety and health-management system intended to reduce incidents and injuries along with associated human and financial costs. The SECOR program is an occupational health and safety accreditation program that verifies companies that have fully implemented a safety and health program that meets provincial standards. It’s like a simplified version of COR for smaller companies.
COR certified companies undertake extensive safety training for their workers. COR/SECOR certification for Manitoba’s residential construction industry is managed and monitored by the CSAM. In addition to the annual safety conference, CSAM is a tremendous year-round resource for information and best practices that keeps our COR/SECOR certified members up to date on workplace safety and health issues.
A safe work environment and a safe work culture in a company are also important in attracting new and young skilled workers wanting to enter the residential construction industry as a career. Consistently ensuring a safe worksite goes a long way to making a company an employer of choice for workers entering the industry.
When you are looking for a builder for your new home, make sure your builder is COR/SECOR certified. You can be sure they are certified if they are a Manitoba Home Builders’ Association builder. You will want to know that the worksite for your new home is safe and is operated by someone who takes pride in their reputation, their performance, and most of all, takes care of the people working on your new home. Safety is everyone’s business, and everyone should come home from a day at work safe.
From March 2 to March 24, the MHBA’s 2019 Spring Parade of Homes will showcase more than 130 different homes by Manitoba’s best homebuilding companies. Each and every show home entered into the MHBA Parade of Homes was built on a safe worksite under the supervision of COR/SECOR certified company.