The City of Toronto is endorsing and adopting the Certificate of Recognition (COR) program for its construction contract management and tendering process.
"It’s terrific to see the largest municipality in Canada take the lead. They are, in fact, the first city and municipal body to move forward with COR," says Clive Thurston, president of the Ontario General Contractors Association (OGCA).
"It’s a culmination of a lot of collaborative effort between the OGCA and the City of Toronto with the support of IHSA (the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association). The City of Toronto embraced it, worked on it, and we couldn’t be more pleased. We hope this will spur our other negotiations…to follow Toronto’s lead and bring this forward."
Michael Pacholok, the director of purchasing and materials management with the City of Toronto, says the city has been reviewing and considering COR for some time and attained feedback from several parties.
"The City completed consultations with divisions across the City of Toronto responsible for construction projects; other municipalities, various organizations, and IHSA about the merits of COR in reaffirming and demonstrating the City’s commitment to safety and the provision of safe working environments for contractors, employees and residents," he states in an email to The Daily Commercial News.
COR will be implemented through a multi-staged approach that begins with the city ensuring the entire construction/contracting industry is informed of its commitment to the program, correspondence from the purchasing and materials management department reads.
COR is a health and safety audit tool that’s part of a comprehensive program. In Ontario, certification is granted by the IHSA which demonstrates its standards of health and safety management systems through a structured audit process. The IHSA also ensures these standards are upheld.
For now sub-contractors trades and contractors who are working on city construction projects will not be expected to hold COR certification.
However, they will be expected to meet or exceed the safety elements of COR or adhere to the certified general contractor’s health and safety program. The city also retains the authority to accept or reject a contractor’s "submission of an alternate or equivalent certified Health and Safety Program to COR."
"I think they (the city) recognize the hard work and the length of time it takes to get certified. You just don’t flip a switch," Thurston explains of the implementation process, adding it takes companies about a year on average to achieve COR certification.
"This actually requires work and if it didn’t then what would be the point."
Phase two, which is slated to roll out in January 2017, means COR will apply to projects greater than $25 million.
Phase three, beginning in January 2018, will see it applied to contracts of $10 million to $25 million and phase four, starting in January 2019, will apply to contracts less than $10 million and architectural and engineering consultants, the report notes. The city says it will apply COR selectively to consultants based on complexity and risk factors.
"This is what we recommend to most owners on how to roll this out," says Thurston. "I can’t emphasis enough that this is a huge commitment by employers to up their game."
Pacholok shares a similar view.
"Developing a multi-staged approach incorporating both time and dollar values will ensure that the City receives competitive and balanced bids for future projects," he says. "We recognized that many of the larger companies are either COR certified or well on their way to certification; hence the earlier phase-in for large contracts."
Thurston adds organizations such as the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) and Metrolinx, who are major buyers of construction, are requiring COR.
"It’s a change in the culture of health and safety and it’s one we want to continue to encourage," he adds.
The city believes introducing COR is a positive step, states Pacholok, and will have a "significant impact on the safe delivery of construction activities for both the City and the contractors retained to deliver capital projects. We would encourage companies interested in obtaining their COR Certification to start the process of registration now."
Thurston says Toronto’s decision is significant, but hopes to take it one step further by getting the provincial government entirely on board.
"The only thing stopping us now is a clear message from the provincial government that they support what we’re doing," he explains. "At the moment we really need the province to step forward and show their support for this program so that it continues."
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