Procurement and Contractor Management: Key Strategies for COR®

Effective procurement and contractor management is essential to maintaining a strong occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS), especially for those who are trying to achieve COR® 2020 certification in Ontario. By developing a clear policy and detailed procedures that describe your company’s processes, organizations can ensure contractors meet health and safety requirements, minimize risks, and comply with regulatory standards. 

1. COR® 2020 Certification Requires a Clear Policy 

Every organization should have a documented and signed policy statement that outlines its commitment to procurement and contractor management.

2. Create a Practical Procedure

The contractor management procedure must provide details on who, what, where, when, and how contractors and service providers are procured and managed.

Key areas to address include:

a. Roles and Responsibilities:

Your organization must describe who manages service providers and contractors at each stage – from selection and monitoring, to evaluating their OHS performance after the work is done. Assigning responsibilities and ensuring those parties understand their obligations is important.

b.Selection Criteria:

Specify how service providers and contractors will be chosen, the criteria used, and when this will take place. Consider prequalifying contractors through a vendor list or on a project-by-project basis.

The procedure should also describe what information and criteria will be used to select contractors. This might include a review of the following:

• • • the contractor’s health and safety programs to ensure they have documented procedures for hazard assessments, controls, training, and more,
    • injury statistics,
    • enforcement orders,
    • previous work,
    • certifications, and more.

c.Effective Communication:

Open communication is important in health and safety. For COR®, the expectation is that a workplace communicates changes that affect the health and safety of service providers and contractors, and vice versa.

For example, clear communication between a workplace and a contractor may be needed if a highly flammable chemical is introduced into the work area, a work activity is being changed that will produce loud noise or odours, or a section of the parking lot may be closed off for a period of time to bring in new equipment to a building. These are just some of the changes that require a clear process in your OHSMS that describes how these changes will be communicated.

d. Managing Multiple Contractors in the Workplace:

In some workplaces, multiple contractors or service providers may be working at the same time. The activities of one may affect another. Therefore it is important to ensure proper coordination between all contractors so that hazards and risks can be properly addressed. Your organization’s procedure must describe how multiple contractors will be coordinated. For example, some organizations may choose to hold a pre-start and periodic subcontractor meetings so that all contractors performing work in the workplace can plan work effectively. Your workplace may choose to review inventories of hazardous products introduced into the workplace by contractors to ensure compatibility. Describing how your organization will coordinate multiple contractors is an important requirement of COR® 2020. 

e. Monitoring and Evaluation:

Define how you will oversee contractors during and after their work. Ensuring service providers and contractors perform their work according to the standards set during the selection stage is critical. Ongoing monitoring can include workplace inspections, health and safety meetings to discuss issues, and closing meetings to review performance.

3. Leverage Existing Health and Safety Practices

Other parts of your company’s OHSMS can be leveraged to describe some of the requirements for managing contractors in element 4 in COR® 2020. For example, your organization’s procedure for workplace inspection could describe how contractor performance will be monitored. Training and communication may describe the necessary health and safety orientation provided to contractors and their employees. These are some of the ways other parts of your OHSMS can be leveraged to satisfy requirements in Element 4 for procurement and contractor management.  

By leveraging existing activities, you avoid redundancy and streamline efforts. 

4. Focus on High-Risk Contractors

Contractors performing high-risk tasks, such as confined space entry or hazardous materials handling, require closer supervision. Implement additional controls, such as daily hazard assessments or more frequent check-ins, to ensure compliance with health and safety requirements. Your procedure should describe when extra oversight is needed and how this determination is made. 

5. Document Every Step

Comprehensive documentation is crucial for COR® 2020 compliance. Maintain records of contractor selection, monitoring, and evaluation processes. Well-organized documentation ensures a smoother audit process and demonstrates adherence to health and safety standards in COR® 2020.  

By establishing effective procedures for procurement and contractor management, your organizations can better protect workers and contractors, maintain compliance with COR® 2020, and create a safer, more efficient work environment. 

With WorkBright’s expertise and strategic advice on COR® 2020, your organization can avoid common mistakes that cause delays and wasted resources. Contact us today and let us help make your journey to COR® 2020 seamless. 

Learn more about Navigating the COR 2020 Certification Process with WorkBright