COLD LAKE – The City is excited to announce the completion of its Certificate of Recognition (COR) audit. This process has been a huge undertaking by all City staff, especially its Human Resources and Safety members.

A COR certification shows that the City’s health and safety management system has been evaluated by a certified auditor and meets provincial standards. These standards are established by Occupational Health and Safety (OHS). This review also included in-person interviews with members of each City department to ensure that all staff are familiar with the health and safety systems in place and are confident in how to utilize them.

“Receiving this certification is a result of a lot of hard work and preparation from all of our staff here,” CAO Kevin Nagoya said. “It also shows how serious we are about serving our community in the safest way possible. Our work crews can encounter some challenging situations when keeping our infrastructure working and, at the end of the day, we want everyone to go home safe and sound.”

To pass the audit, a score of at least 80 per cent overall must be obtained, with a minimum score of 50 per cent in each of the audit elements. The City of Cold Lake received a final score of 89 per cent, awarding Cold Lake with a COR certification for the next three years. To maintain this certification, several internal audits will be conducted within that time frame to ensure that the health and safety systems remain in place and are implemented correctly.

With the completion of this audit, the City is now planning to have some of its own staff train as auditors. They will then be able to visit other municipalities to conduct safety audits while staff from other municipalities can, in turn, audit the City of Cold Lake’s safety program. This will help communities to work together in the COR audit process by sharing information and strategies to best create a safe and healthy work environment while maintaining a strong sense of accountability.

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