Wildfires

If you experience issues with your audit due to wildfires or a state of emergency being called, please let us know (audits@amhsa.net). There may be options related to extending COR expiry dates or data gathering deadlines in special circumstances for COR Certification audits.

Remember that COR Maintenance audits can be conducted at any time during the year, as long as they are submitted to AMHSA by December 1, 2023. 

Psychological Health and Safety (PHS) Audit

AMHSA’s PHS audit tool is ready for use! It can be used as a stand-alone audit, or it can be used to replace an existing audit element in COR Maintenance years (specific rules apply, contact us for details). The PHS audit is scalable to 3 levels to accommodate the progression of your PHS program.

If you are interested in learning more about AMHSA’s PHS audit, please email audits@amhsa.net. 

Important QA Information

AMHSA’s quality assurance reviews and processes are audited regularly by Partnerships, and our most recent audit took place this year. In the report, the following strengths of our audits were found:

• meeting and exceeding interview sampling minimums
• including operational descriptions
• strengths and suggestions for improvement are well written, including rationale on why they should be completed (benefit to the HSMS)
• organization of COR Maintenance action plan deliverables
• timelines met for data gathering, reporting writing, and QA processes

There were also recommendations for improvement in the report. Before submitting your audit for quality assurance, please check the following items:

Interviews

Interviews were conducted according to plan for each level – the Int. Scoring worksheet (results) must match the Int. Sampling worksheet (plan). Also ensure all required questions were asked of each interviewee.

Justification notes support the results for the correct levels (for example, if a question is asked of manager and supervisors, don’t refer to “employee interviews” in your justification notes, as that indicates all levels, specify the level interviewed)

Interviews are reflective of audit scope – complete the new area in the Int. Sampling worksheet, explaining how representative sampling is met:

Justification Notes



Auditor notes must be original, reflect that the question guidelines were followed, indicate the validation method used (reference what documents were reviewed or where observations were completed or who was interviewed), include quantification of score, and provide details from findings. When answering a documentation question, please refer to the specific document reviewed (e.g., specifying Job Hazard Assessments instead of just stating that system documents were reviewed).

Suggestions for Improvement



When explaining the benefit to the health and safety management system of implementing the change suggested, the benefit needs to be specific (e.g. training will provide knowledge for supervisors to support the workers), not vague like “benefits the HS program”. 

Small Employer Changes

In January 2023, AMHSA adopted the scored Partnerships small employer audit instrument. There are new requirements for employers, and options for both self-assessments (internal) or external audits (by AMHSA-certified auditors). In addition, the following deadlines apply:

• Data gathering – 15 days
• Submission – within 21 days of last day of data gathering
• Annual Submission – December 1, 2023

We have developed a half-day SECOR Refresher course, which is now required training for our SECOR-holders every three years. The first offering was held virtually on May 2023, and we will schedule another offering for late fall or early 2024. Contact shannon@amhsa.net to be placed on the waiting list.