Ontario COR safety manual template
A complete written health and safety program for Ontario construction employers, laid out element by element on the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association (IHSA) COR® 2020 audit and written to the Occupational Health and Safety Act and O. Reg. 213/91 (Construction Projects). It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own: your name, your logo, your job titles and your work.
A look inside
Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.
What’s in the manual
1. Health and safety policy and document control
Your signed health and safety policy, its yearly review and posting, responsibilities for the owner, constructor, employer, supervisors, workers and the committee or representative, and a document and record control procedure with a records table for every element.
2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control
Formal, site-specific and field-level hazard assessments, the 5 × 5 risk matrix used before and after controls, critical tasks, and when assessments are reviewed and updated.
3. Controls
How controls are developed and approved using the hierarchy of controls, twelve starter safe work practices, six safe job procedures, and a table of the written measures and procedures Ontario law requires, from the registration form and notice of project to fall rescue and traffic protection plans.
4. Procurement and contractor management
Choosing, monitoring and evaluating contractors and service providers on their ability to control hazards, the constructor’s duties when several employers share a project, and buying products and equipment safely.
5. Company rules
Written company and site rules, explained so workers understand them, and a progressive discipline process that is applied consistently and never used as a reprisal.
6. Personal protective equipment
The PPE each activity needs and how it is chosen, fit, care and use, and inspection to manufacturer and legal requirements.
7. Preventative maintenance
An inventory of owned, leased and rented equipment, schedules that meet manufacturer and legal requirements, records with corrective action, qualified maintainers, and removing defective or overdue equipment from service.
8. Training and communication
Competencies and a training needs analysis, a table of the training Ontario law requires, from awareness and working at heights training to WHMIS, orientation before work, evaluating learning, company-wide safety meetings and toolbox talks.
9. Workplace inspections
What is inspected, how often and by whom, including the weekly project inspection and the committee’s monthly inspection, pre-use inspections, worker participation, and correcting and reporting what is found.
10. Investigations and reporting
The notices and written reports the Act and O. Reg. 420/21 require, and how fast, preserving the scene, WSIB Form 7, root-cause investigations, and corrective and preventive actions checked for effect.
11. Emergency preparedness
Emergency plans built on your hazard assessments, alarms and communication, equipment, training and drills, fire extinguishers, first aid under Reg. 1101, transport to medical care, defibrillators and naloxone kits where the law requires them.
12. Statistics and records
Leading and lagging indicators measured at least yearly, year-over-year trends, first aid record analysis, and sharing the results.
13. Legislation and other requirements
A legal register and compliance evaluations, the postings the law requires, workers’ rights and the right to refuse unsafe work step by step, the joint health and safety committee and representative, the workplace violence and harassment policies and program, and other Ontario rules.
14. Management review and management of change
A yearly senior management review with every input and output the audit names, measurable objectives and an action plan shared with everyone, and a procedure for assessing and controlling hazards whenever something changes.
Appendix A. COR cross-reference
Every one of the 145 documentation questions in the COR® 2020 audit, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records. The legislated questions, which need full marks to pass, are marked, and each entry links to its section.
Appendix B. Forms
30 print-ready forms that match the manual, each on one page with a form code: policy review, hazard assessments, critical tasks, control reviews, procedures, contractors, purchasing, discipline, PPE, maintenance, orientation, training, meetings, inspections, incidents, investigations, emergencies, statistics, legal compliance, work refusals, management review and management of change.
Built around IHSA’s COR® 2020 audit
COR® 2020 is a management system audit. For each of its 14 elements, the auditor looks for a signed policy statement and a written procedure that covers a set list of items, then for evidence that the procedure is followed. This manual gives you all of it, in the audit’s order: every section opens with its policy statement and ends with a checklist showing where each required item is met.
The audit also asks 45 interview questions and makes 18 observations, and 17 of its questions check legal requirements that need full marks whatever the overall score. Appendix A marks those, so you can meet them first. Certification needs 80% overall and at least 65% in every element. No template can guarantee that on its own, and we don’t claim to. What it gives you is a complete, audit-shaped program to put in place.
Written to Ontario law as it stands
Every requirement is cited to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, O. Reg. 213/91 (Construction Projects), the first aid, awareness training and incident reporting regulations, or the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act, checked against the e-Laws consolidations current in September 2026, including the recent changes on virtual harassment, washrooms and defibrillators on larger projects.
Where the law sets no number, such as how often to hold toolbox talks, the manual says so and gives you a highlighted default to set yourself. Changes to the Construction Projects regulation are already scheduled for 2027; when each takes effect, we update the template and you get the new edition free.
Who it is for
Ontario construction employers working toward COR® 2020 with IHSA, whatever their size. It is also the written occupational health and safety policy and program the Act requires once more than five workers are regularly employed, with the workplace violence and harassment policies and program every employer needs.
If you are working to a different health and safety management system standard, check the manual against that standard’s own requirements.
Lifetime updates
When legislation or the audit changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.
Version 1.0 September 30, 2026
- First edition, laid out on IHSA’s COR® 2020 Audit Tool, Version 2.0, with a signed policy statement and written procedure for every element.
- Written to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, O. Reg. 213/91 (Construction Projects) and related regulations as consolidated on e-Laws in September 2026.
Working in more than one province?
Buy templates together and save on the whole order: 2 for 10% off, 3 for 15% off, 4+ for 20% off.
Manitoba
Manitoba COR safety manual template
$249.95
Alberta
Alberta COR safety manual template
$249.95
Questions
What format is the manual in?
An editable Microsoft Word (.docx) file on US Letter pages. It works best in desktop Word for Windows or Mac. It also opens in Google Docs and Word on the web, where you use Find and replace to put your company name in.
Will this manual get us COR?
It gives you the written policies and procedures the COR® 2020 audit reviews, laid out on IHSA’s audit, with every documentation question answered and cross-referenced. Certification also depends on your records, worker interviews and what the auditor observes on site, so no template can promise a pass. If you want help putting it in place, or a gap analysis before your audit, our team does that too.
Is it for COR® 2020 or the older IHSA COR tool?
COR® 2020, IHSA’s current audit, with its 14 elements, including document and record control, controls, and management review and management of change.
Do I need a written health and safety policy and program in Ontario?
Under the Occupational Health and Safety Act, an employer with more than five workers regularly employed must have a written health and safety policy, reviewed at least once a year, and a program to put it into effect. Every employer needs workplace violence and workplace harassment policies and a program for each, reviewed at least once a year.
How do I get the file after I pay?
Your download is on the confirmation page the moment payment goes through, and we email you a download link as well.
What happens when the legislation or the audit changes?
We update the template, and you get every update free for as long as we publish it: lifetime updates at no extra charge. We email you when a new edition is ready, with what changed and a link to download it.
Does it work with TruStar Connect?
Yes. The manual rates risk on the same 5 × 5 matrix TruStar Connect uses for its hazard register and investigations, so if you run your program in Connect, your ratings, bands and actions carry straight over.
Can I use it for more than one company?
Each purchase is licensed to one company. Consultants setting up programs for several clients should contact us.
Want it built for you?
Our safety advisors tailor programs to your operations and take you through COR from gap analysis to audit day.
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