Canadian Occupational Safety

10 Canadian Occupational Safety www.cos-mag.com GLYN JONES TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT GLYN JONES TRAINING Industry overwhelmed by certifi cations, designations Growing number of options impeding self-regulation W orkplace health and safety is now recognized as a new risk to be managed as part of a well-designed enterprise risk management program. Increasingly, companies that seek operational excellence include achieving a safe workplace as a part of this quest. This shift has created a new demand for qualified safety practitioners and professionals. This demand has resulted in a growing number of universities offering occupational health and safety programming and an increasing number of organizations, societies and agencies offering occupational health and/or safety designations and certifi cation schemes. In spite of all of this work, safety is still not recognized as a true profes- sion in Canada. At last count, there were more than 20 certifi cations and designations in Canada related to occu- pational health and safety. In Hiring a Health and Safety Practitioner – A Guide for Employers and OHS Practitioners, the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering has published a detailed listing of 18 of these. Certifi cations and designations are being added to the list every year. An argument can be made that this fractured landscape of certifi cations and designations is a major impediment to safety ever becoming a self-regulating "true profession" like engineering, law, accounting or medicine. To dig deeper into this issue, we need to make the distinction between a certifi cation and a designation. One defi nition of these two terms could be as follows: A safety certifi cation is a qualifi ca- tion offered by a safety practitioner organization that specifi es minimum formal education, qualifi cations and practical experience, along with a mandatory certifi cation maintenance program. A good example of a certifi ca- tion is the Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP). This qualifi ca- tion would typically include a formal competency assessment. The Board of Canadian Registered Safety Pro- fessionals (BCRSP) sets certifi cation standards for the CRSP, has defi ned a body of knowledge in its competency framework, administers a standardized exam for applicants and manages the certifi cation maintenance process for certifi cate holders. On the other hand, a safety desig- nation is a qualifi cation offered by a provincial or national industry or safety association that can be earned by the completion of a series of short dura- tion courses. For example, the Health and Safety Practitioner (HSP) designa- tion offered by Safety Services Nova Scotia has a program of training and other requirements that an applicant must complete to be allowed to use the designation. In most cases, these qualifi cations do not require applicants to possess any formal academic quali- fi cations, do not include a mandatory certifi cation maintenance point scheme and are not independently accredited. At fi rst glance, the need for 20 such certifi cations and designations seems excessive and begs the question: Should anyone be allowed to start up and copyright a safety certifi ca- tion or designation? Shouldn't there be standardized requirements across the country for safety certifi cations and designations? Or should it just be "buyer beware" and we should allow this free-for-all to continue? The Canadian Federation of Con- struction Safety Associations has fi nalized a process to offer a harmo- nized and standardized certifi cation for construction safety professionals in Canada. The certifi cation will be called the National Construction Safety Offi - cer (NCSO) or Construction Safety Supervisor (CSS) depending on the province of issue. This harmonization will signifi cantly reduce the number of construction safety acronyms in Canada. Mike McKenna, executive director of the British Columbia Con- struction Safety Association has been a big part of the leadership team working to achieve this goal. They have agreed on a standardized body of knowledge and have established the core educa- tional requirements. "There will be a national exam that all construction safety professionals will complete, regardless of where they are from in Canada. The exam is currently being vetted and will be fi nalized by year end," McKenna said. A continuing education and three- year re-certifi cation system has been included, and this will apply to all construction safety professionals cur- rently working in the fi eld. With these new requirements and standardiza- tion, this new construction safety certifi cation has suffi cient rigour for it to stand up to the scrutiny and the standard of any safety certifi cation. Another example is the Alberta Motor Transport Association (AMTA), which is working towards the intro- duction of a new safety certifi cation — the Certifi ed Transportation Safety Professional (CTSP). "One of the drivers for this new cer- tifi cation is the legislated requirement for carrier companies to have a des- ignated safety offi cer," said Lorraine Card, president of the AMTA. Its plan is to create two levels for the designated safety offi cer: entry level and CTSP. The AMTA believes the current framework of education and certifi cation for a safety practi- tioner in Canada does not include all of the competencies required for the transportation industry. AMTA has developed its new competency framework and is working with a local college to establish the educational program to go with the new certifi ca- tion scheme. Another certifi cation in the works is from BCRSP for OHS technicians. One of the drivers for this new certi- fi cation is the recognition that there are many safety practitioners working in the fi eld who do not qualify for the CRSP certifi cation because they do not meet the formal educational requirements. The chair of the board of governors of BCRSP, Dave Turner, said they are looking to get people properly qualifi ed. "We need a defi ned education stan- dard and have all candidates for any BCRSP certifi cation do a standardized examination. If we could get everyone under one umbrella (technicians and professionals) it would allow us to go to companies and make the case that we are a profession," Turner said. See Training on page 14 >> The classic OH&S resource in the format you prefer Now you can access the go to OH&S resource for Ontario companies – the "Green Book" – as a smart eBook on your iPad, Android tablet or directly from your web browser. 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