October 19, 2017
2018 Change to Revisions Deadline

Standard 2.2 - Audit Quality Reviews has been updated by the Certifying Partner group. As of January 1, 2018, the revisions deadline will be 15 days (instead of the 20 days AMHSA previously provided). In the past we allowed 2 rounds of revisions, but now will be allowing as many as required (or possible) to meet QA requirements within a maximum of 90 days. If there are special circumstances and you require additional time to submit, please send your request by email to your QA Analyst before the 15-day deadline has occurred. 

If you have questions, please contact the Sherwood Park office. 
Dependent Questions

The 2016 Excel Audit workbook includes a number of questions (2.02, 2.03, 2.04, and 3.01) which are scored depending on the percentages awarded to previous questions. The theory behind the dependencies is that a gap in any of these areas is so critical, the full percentage is no longer available for the following questions.

An error in the original Partnerships Audit Tool led AMHSA and other Certifying Partners to calculate the effects of dependencies in slightly different ways. We have now confirmed the correct calculations with Partnerships and have updated the workbook accordingly.

What does that mean for me?

  • If you have already begun an audit using the 2016 Excel Workbook, please feel free to email your current file to krystal@amhsa.net and we will transfer your information into an updated workbook.

  • If you have not begun an audit, you just need to be aware of the change - scoring is calculated automatically based on your entered percentages. If you notice that the scores calculated in your report are very different from your percentages, check to see if the question score has been adjusted due to dependency rules.

Example:
  • Question 2.01 is awarded 50%, with a calculated score of 5/10
  • Question 2.02 is dependent on question 2.01 and is awarded a percentage of 80%
  • The score is calculated as 80% x (50% of 20) = 8/20

If you have questions, please contact the Sherwood Park office. 
New Auditor Training

AMHSA has updated its Health and Safety Management Systems and Health and Safety Auditing courses to meet the new content Standards and to reflect the adoption of the 2016 Partnerships audit.

Limited spaces are still available in the following offerings:

  • October 31-November 1 (Calgary)
  • January 9-10 (Stony Plain) - 1 spot remaining
  • January 16-17 (Calgary)
  • March 12-13 (Sherwood Park)
  • April 3-4 (Calgary)

  • November 2-3 (Calgary) - full
  • January 11-12 (Stony Plain)
  • January 18-19 (Calgary)
  • March 14-15 (Sherwood Park)
  • April 5-6 (Calgary)

If you have questions about prerequisites or equivalencies, please contact Shannon Thomas.

To register or to be added to a waiting list, contact Carla Smith at 1 800 267-9764.
Audit Refresher Training

Our Audit Refresher course has been updated to meet the new content Standard and to include training on the new Excel audit workbook (2016 Standard), and now includes an optional, free of charge, second day.

Although the fall courses are full, we have scheduled several additional offerings for 2018:

  • October 24-25 (Airdrie) - full
  • January 23-24 (Strathmore)
  • March 5-6 (Fort McMurray)
  • March 8-9 (Sherwood Park) - full
  • March 27-28 (Calgary)

To register or to be added to a waiting list, contact Carla Smith at 1 800 267-9764.
Quality Assurance Reminders

Deadlines: 
  • Deliverables are due November 30th for Action Plans in lieu of maintenance audits that were approved in 2017.
  • All large employer COR audits for 2017 COR Certification or Maintenance are due December 1st
  • Small employer (SECOR) audits are also due December 1st
  • Qualification audits are due a maximum six months from training, unless they are full scope audits conducted for COR maintenance. In that case they are due December 1st or six months from training, whichever is earlier
 
Sampling:
  • Interview and site sampling plans can be submitted to Shannon Thomas for approval prior to starting the on-site portion of an audit. Email shannon@amhsa.net. 
Audit Tools/Workbooks for 2017

Remember that there are three potential options for 2017 at this time – the original 2010 Excel audit tool, the 2015 eCompliance audit tool, and the new 2016 Excel Partnerships Workbook.

AMHSA is currently working to make the 2016 tool available on eCompliance as well. An announcement will be made as soon as it has gone through testing and is ready for use.

Auditors can only use the tools they’ve received training on, so if you have not attended a Refresher course since this spring, for example, you would not yet be able to use the 2016 workbook.

If you have questions about which tool(s) you are certified to use, please contact the Sherwood Park office.
eCompliance Audits (2015)

If you are an associate member or consultant auditor using the eCompliance tool, request the audit license key directly through eCompliance . The cost is $175 plus GST. 

If you are a member municipality , request an audit license key using this form. 

When the audit report is ready to submit, remember to export the final report to PDF, and email it to AMHSA for quality assurance. Do not send the .eca file as your audit submission. 
Report Writing Tips
(2010 Excel and 2015 eCompliance)

Findings/Justification Notes:
  • Documentation – Address all parts of the question, quantify the score awarded with positive indicators, and provide details or examples. 
  • Interviews – Provide the positive response rate (% or #/# or “all” or “none”), and either a summary of responses or examples of positive responses.
  • Observations – Provide positive indicators to quantify score awarded and examples of positive observations from your tours

Strengths:
  • 2010 Excel Tool – Include the existence of complete directives and policies, and any high-weighted questions that scored 100%
  • 2015 eCompliance Tool – Include 1-2 program-level strengths for each element. Explain why they’re a strength of the program (how they benefit the organization). 
Suggestions for Improvement:
  • 2010 Excel Tool – Include suggestions related to all questions with less than 80% positive indicators, or in high-scoring elements, the deficiencies found (e.g., in an element with an average of 95%, you include an SFI for a question with 91% positive indicators, but if the element average was 88% you wouldn’t require a suggestion for that question).
  • Suggestions need to be actionable – provide guidance on why the change should be made – explain the benefit to the health and safety management system.
  • 2015 eCompliance Tool – for all questions with less than 100% positive indicators, include 1) description of the deficiency found 2) suggestion for change and 3) explain the benefit to the health and safety management system (why it’s important to make the change)
Return to Work Training

AMHSA strongly recommends that all of its COR holders to have someone on staff who has attended WCB’s Return to Work training. Proof of training is to be submitted to the Sherwood Park office as soon as it is received. Offerings are listed on WCB’s website.

We are also hosting a Return to Work session with the WCB’s Employer Information seminar at the Health, Safety, & Utility Conference & Trade Show in December in Red Deer. See the conference schedule for details. 
Online Training
Online training is available 24/7 to all members and non-members. New courses include Asbestos Awareness, Drug and Alcohol-Free Workplace, and H2S.

Click below for full listings!

Please note that prices do not include GST. For best results, please use Internet Explorer 8 (or newer) or Firefox as your browser and ensure that you have the current version of java installed.
Course Registration
To request or register for a course, contact AMHSA Corporate:

  Toll free: 1.877.537.9063
  Calgary and area: 587.952.2268
   Online: www.amhsa.net
  Email: safety@amhsa.net

For questions or comments, please visit our FAQ or email us at safety@amhsa.net.