From September 9 to October 1, the Fall Parade of Homes will showcase more than 130 different homes by 40 of Manitoba’s best home-building companies. Each of these homes will display the latest in designs, building techniques and materials, making each parade show home different and unique.
But in one very important aspect, each of the show homes featured in the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association (MHBA) Parade of Homes is exactly the same. Each and every show home entered into the MHBA Parade of Homes was built on a safe worksite under the supervision of a COR/SECOR-certified company.
The Certificate of Recognition (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 to reduce incidents and injuries along with associated human and financial costs.
The Small Employer Certificate of Recognition (SECOR) Program is an occupational health and safety accreditation program that verifies companies that have a fully implemented safety and health program that meets provincial standards. It’s like a simplified version of COR for smaller companies.
The MHBA requires all of its’ builder members to be COR/SECOR certified as part of our membership criteria.
COR-certified companies mandate extensive training for their workers including classroom safety courses, create a safety manual with safe work procedures and must pass both an internal and external safety audit to achieve certification.
COR/SECOR certification for Manitoba’s residential construction industry is managed and monitored by the Construction Safety Association of Manitoba (CSAM). CSAM is a tremendous resource of information and best practices that keep 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 for attracting new and young skilled workers wanting to enter the residential construction industry as a career.
Consistently ensuring a safe work site 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 an MHBA builder. You will want to know that the work site 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.
Lanny McInnes is president of the Manitoba Home Builders’ Association.
