Quebec safety manual template (English and French)
A complete written health and safety program for Quebec construction employers, written to the Act respecting occupational health and safety, the Safety Code for the construction industry and the prevention-mechanism regulations, and laid out on the 14 national COR elements. You get it in English and in French, both editable Word files 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. Safety and health policy
A signed, dated policy at the heart of your prevention program or action plan, the yearly update and the three-yearly report to the CNESST, and responsibilities for management, supervisors, workers, the principal contractor, suppliers, subcontractors and visitors.
2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control
The identification and analysis of risks the Act requires, chemical, biological, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, critical tasks, the hierarchy of preventive measures in its six levels, and the work barred to anyone under 18.
3. Safe work practices
Twelve starter practices for common construction work: site conduct, ladders, working at heights under the 2025 fall protection rules, tools, lifting, mobile equipment, silica, working alone, heat and cold, WHMIS, temporary power and excavations, each ending with the Quebec legislation that applies.
4. Safe job procedures
Step-by-step procedures for six critical tasks, from lockout and fall arrest to entering a trench and hoisting, and a table of the written programs, procedures and notices Quebec law requires, from the site prevention program to the fall rescue procedure.
5. Company safety rules
Written company and site rules and a progressive discipline process that is applied the same way every time and never used as a reprisal against a worker for exercising a right under the Act.
6. Personal protective equipment
PPE as the last level of the hierarchy, chosen with the committee and supplied free of charge, to the standards the Safety Code names, with harnesses, respirators and hearing protectors, training and inspection.
7. Preventative maintenance program
An equipment inventory, the inspections the Safety Code requires and the person it names for each, maintenance records and crane log books, and taking defective equipment out of service.
8. Training and communication
Orientation, the general construction-site health and safety course, WHMIS, first-aider and rescue attendant training, committee, representative and coordinator training, safety meetings and toolbox talks, and the rules for workers 16 or under.
9. Inspections
The inspection schedule your program sets, the inspections the Safety Code requires and who does them, the representative’s inspections, and correcting and sharing what is found.
10. Investigations and reporting
Notice to the CNESST by the fastest means and a written report within 24 hours of a serious event, leaving the scene unchanged, the employer’s notice and claim and the register of minor accidents, near misses, investigations and corrective action.
11. Emergency preparedness
Emergency plans for each site, fire protection, fall rescue drills, and first aid under the First-aid Minimum Standards Regulation: first-aiders by workforce, kits, the first-aid room and the register.
12. Statistics, records and document control
Document control and the retention periods Quebec law sets, leading and lagging indicators, year-over-year trends and audit action plans.
13. Legislation
Written so workers and supervisors can answer an auditor’s interview questions: the law on site, their rights, the right of refusal step by step, protection from reprisals, and reporting to the CNESST.
14. Procurement and contractor management
Choosing and monitoring subcontractors and suppliers, the principal contractor’s duties, the written undertaking each employer signs on a site, and buying products safely.
15. Quebec requirements
Your prevention program (20 or more workers) or action plan, with every item the Act requires mapped to the manual; construction-site prevention mechanisms, from the notice of opening to the job-site committee and coordinator; the committee, representative or liaison officer; the psychological harassment policy written out in full; noise; protective re-assignment; return to work; and postings.
Appendix A. COR cross-reference
Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records. 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, in both languages: hazard assessments, inspections, incidents, investigations, right of refusal, committee minutes, a return-to-work and temporary assignment plan, and the employer’s undertaking for a site prevention program.
Your prevention program, laid out for COR
Quebec has no COR program of its own. What Quebec law requires is a prevention program in an establishment with 20 or more workers, or an action plan below that, and a prevention program specific to each construction site with 10 or more workers. This manual is written to be that program: section 15 maps every item the Act requires to the part of the manual that meets it.
It is laid out on the 14 elements every harmonized COR audit shares, so it is ready if you certify through an association outside Quebec for work in other provinces. Appendix A shows where each of the 74 documentation questions is answered. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.
In English and in French
Every purchase includes both editions. The French edition is not a translation of the English one: it is written from the French official texts of the law, with the terms the law uses (maître d’œuvre, programme de prévention, comité de chantier, droit de refus), so your crews and the CNESST read the same words.
Where the English and French versions of a provision differ, each edition follows its own text, and the manual keeps the stricter requirement where both can be met.
Written to Quebec law as it stands
Every requirement is cited to the Act respecting occupational health and safety, the Safety Code for the construction industry, the prevention-mechanism regulations for establishments and construction sites, the First-aid Minimum Standards Regulation, the Act respecting industrial accidents and occupational diseases, the Act respecting labour standards or the Charter of human rights and freedoms, read from the official consolidations of 2026. Nothing in it is borrowed from another province’s rules.
Where the law sets no number, such as how often to hold toolbox talks or how long to keep most records, the manual says so and gives you a highlighted default to set yourself. When the law changes, we update both editions and you get them free.
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 October 1, 2026
- First edition, in English and French, laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit, with a section of Quebec requirements that maps the prevention program and action plan.
- Written to the Act respecting occupational health and safety (June 2026), the Safety Code for the construction industry and the prevention-mechanism regulations (May 2026), from the official English and French texts.
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.
Questions
Do I get both the English and the French manual?
Yes. Every purchase includes both editions as separate Word files, and both are on your confirmation page, in your email and in Find my downloads. Lifetime updates cover both.
Does Quebec have COR?
Not of its own, and the CNESST does not issue COR. Quebec law requires a prevention program or an action plan instead. This manual is written to meet that requirement and is also laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it is ready if you certify through an association in another province.
Do I need a prevention program or an action plan?
An establishment with 20 or more workers during the year needs a prevention program; one with fewer needs an action plan, which is a shorter list. On a construction site where 10 or more workers are expected at once, the principal contractor also needs a prevention program specific to the site, and every employer there undertakes in writing to see that it is complied with. The manual covers all three.
What format is the manual in?
Two editable Microsoft Word (.docx) files on US Letter pages, one in English and one in French. They work best in desktop Word for Windows or Mac. They also open in Google Docs and Word on the web, where you use Find and replace to put your company name in.
What happens when the legislation changes?
We update the template, and you get every update free for as long as we publish it: lifetime updates at no extra charge, in both languages. 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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