Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/46524
ward-winning Greywolf Golf Course, part of Panorama Mountain Village in the Kootenay Rockies region, has one more distinction to add to its long list of accolades. Consistently rated among the top courses in Canada, Greywolf can now lay claim to being the first golf course in British Columbia to become certified under go2's Certificate of Recognition (COR) program. "One of the most important aspects for us in going through the program is to minimize the risks of any incidents and to improve awareness businesses in the province, including Greywolf, and 26 more have registered to pursue certification. Many other organizations have also expressed interest in participating in the program. Certified companies can now earn a rebate of up to 15 per cent on their WorkSafeBC premiums by demonstrating that their health and safety programs go beyond the legal requirements by taking a best practice approach. Panorama Mountain Village fosters a health and safety culture across its entire organization. The resort was among all our staff of the importance of working safe," says Chad Thomlinson, Director of Golf at Greywolf Golf Course. In partnership with WorkSafeBC, go2 launched the COR program for tourism and hospitality businesses in October 2010. go2 is the industry's health and safety resource and the Certifying Partner for the COR program. There are 10 COR certified tourism one of the first BC tourism businesses to receive COR certification for its ski operations in January 2011. "Greywolf prides itself on being one of the finest golf courses in the country and with the COR certification we are ensuring that the entire experience – for our employees and our customers – is of the finest quality," says Ryan Stimming, Risk Manager at Panorama Mountain Village. GREYWOLF HAS WORKED TO MINIMIZE RISKS In addition to the financial incentives, businesses that embrace a culture of workplace health and safety are seeing significant human resource upsides, including fewer employee injuries, injured employees returning to work sooner, and greater success in retaining and attracting the best talent. "We congratulate Greywolf Golf Course and Panorama Mountain Village. The COR program is one way golf courses in BC can be leaders in employee safety and customer service, and strengthen their bottom line at the same time," says Arlene Keis, CEO of go2, BC's tourism industry human resource association. Thomlinson says there are many benefits of going through the COR process. It helped the golf course review all its tasks, even those that were typically taken for granted as being too simple or not important enough to track for health and safety considerations. "It is going to help us improve our new crew training each year. We have also altered our mowing patterns on the course to reduce the amount of mowing done on dangerous slopes," Thomlinson points out. "We will definitely be marketing our COR certification prominently in our HR recruiting efforts, in the recruitment section of our website, as well as in our pre-arrival training and information manuals," he adds. The cost to go through the COR training and audit process is modest and, in most cases, is less than the initial rebate following certification. Future savings flow straight to the bottom line. In addition to coordinating the COR program, go2 also provides a variety of industry health and safety resources that can help businesses of any size to implement a health and safety program. go2's website includes articles, templates, tools and sample policies and also includes information on the Young and New Workers and Working Alone legal requirements for employers. For information on how to prepare your golf course's health and safety program for COR certification visit HYPERLINK "http://www.go2hr.ca" www.go2hr.ca or contact Trina Wright at twright@go2hr.ca or 604-633- 9787 ext. 259.