City accepts ISO 45001 despite not explicitly stating so in procurement policy
There is significant confusion among construction industry leaders in Ontario over the City of Toronto’s procurement policy when it comes to safety accreditation. Toronto accepts both the Certificate of Recognition (COR) certification and the ISO 45001 certification; despite the fact it isn’t explicitly stated in the city’s procurement policy.
“I and the companies I am advocating for are calling on the City staff, the Mayor and the Council, to clarify this in the most visible way possible to clear up the confusion caused by the repeated and exclusive use of the COR brand name in their contract language to the exclusion of all others,” says Kevin Brown, CEO of Cobalt Safety Consulting, and an industry expert.
As part of his ongoing commitment to improved safety and productivity, Brown conducted an online survey, revealing that nearly 80% of CEOs and executives who participated support expanding Toronto's procurement policy to include all companies meeting Ontario Ministry of Labour accredited standards, which includes the ISO 45001.
ISO 45001, developed among 168 countries, is widely regarded as a global gold standard for safety practices in construction, technology, management, and manufacturing. COR is just as reputable and successful within Canada.
Respondents were unaware the city does accept the ISO 45001, and leveled criticism that the city’s procurement process is anti-competitive. Brown’s research indicates only about 0.04% of a pool of about 135,000 companies have a COR certification.
Canadian Occupational Safety reached out to the City of Toronto for comment, and it responded saying it implemented the COR program as part of its construction contract management and construction tendering process to support safe work environments.
“The City of Toronto requires construction contractors working on City construction projects to have COR certification or an equivalent approved health and safety certification that meets or exceeds the elements of COR – and ISO 45001 certificates are considered to be an equivalent.”
This fact that ISO 45001 is an equivalent seems to be lost on a vast number of CEOs who could have potentially been interested in bidding on a city contract. The statement from the city goes on to say it is not aware of the survey conducted by Brown, “and cannot speak to why some construction contractors believe they don’t qualify because they have ISO 45001 and not COR certification.”
Brown says because COR, as a safety brand, is explicitly written into the city’s procurement policy and ISO 45001 is not, it’s too easy of a mistake for CEO’s and business leaders to believe they don’t qualify for a city contract when they do.
“The confusion they are causing is unproductive and punitive towards thousands of companies who either don’t know this or have been mislead about it,” says Brown, who claims many of the companies he is advocating on behalf of have been told the opposite by city bureaucrats.
“It’s a simple solution in their contracts,” explains Brown. “The City of Toronto accepts all Ministry of Labour Accredited Safety Systems with no branding like ISO or COR, as there are multiple Ministry-accredited systems. That makes the system fair, opens the competition, and clarifies it for all companies that want to bid.”
A simple fix that would lift the fog hanging over an issue that has clearly caused confusion among industry and city bureaucrats.
