February 18, 2005
President’s year-end report to association
COCA will charge ahead in 2005
By Grant Cameron
staff writer
The Council of Ontario Construction Associations (COCA) overcame some early difficulties and charged forward in 2004, David Frame, president of the organization, said in his year-end report released recently.
David Frame
“When circumstances dictated severe financial belt-tightening, the result was a better approach to asset allocation and the setting of priorities,” he said.
“COCA has a bright new image and logo to go with new products, new member services and renewed enthusiasm.”
Frame’s report was presented last week at the association’s annual meeting in Toronto.
In the report, he said the association has also been able to increase its attention to legislation, workers’ compensation, health and safety, and the economy.
One of COCA’s significant accomplishments was the launch of Safety Edge, an interactive website and program aimed at making the business case for better health and safety practices on construction sites.
Financing for the project came directly from the prevention section of the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board (WSIB) while production of the site came about as the result of leadership from COCA.
Frame said many safety experts from a number of companies, the WSIB, Construction Safety Association of Ontario, Provincial Building and Construction Trades Council of Ontario, and Ontario Construction Users Council contributed hundreds of hours to get the site up and running.
Addressing the underground economy was also high on COCA’s list of priorities in 2004, Frame said, and the association moved the issue forward.
“It is well known (that) addressing the underground economy is a primary goal of our organization,” Frame said in his report. “In the past year, COCA has expended many resources on this problem and it appears that we are finally getting close to governmental action to address it.”
Frame said COCA was pleased provincial Labour Minister Chris Bentley indicated that an all-out attack on accidents would not be possible without knowing who actually worked on Ontario’s construction sites.
“He suggested that proper registration of anyone who works in the industry probably could be accomplished through WSIB. If that goal is achieved, we will have a much better chance at addressing the underground economy because people won’t have places to hide.”
Frame said COCA also spent hundreds of hours working on a Joint Advisory Implementation Group (JAIG) of employers, unions and the WSIB to put in place reforms agreed to by the construction industry in 2000.
COCA is hoping that the labour minister will assess the recommendations of JAIG and legislate improvements in the system for all.
One of the more controversial aspects of JAIG’s work was the realization that progress will not be made until everyone working on a construction site has WSIB coverage.
“The use of ‘independent operators’ to avoid WSIB assessments is a very large contributor to the loss of revenue and the uneven opportunities for bidding contracts,” Frame said. “JAIG early on decided to recommend coverage for all independent operators as well as executive officers of construction companies to close the obvious loopholes.”
However, said Frame, COCA realized there are many executive officers of construction companies who do not work on jobsites and “we insisted that they be exempted from coverage when the minister (of labour) makes his final decision regarding legislation.”
According to Frame, COCA is also working on a number of other important initiatives, such as getting amendments to the Construction Lien Act, protecting workers from serious jeopardy under proposed environmental legislation known as Bill 133, and working with the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to improve construction as a career choice.
In other reports presented at the annual meeting:
• Treasurer Dave Kueneman noted the 2003-04 fiscal year began with an unexpected deficit but COCA is on track to retire the shortfall. The 2003-04 fiscal year realized a surplus of $60,000, which was applied to the deficit, reducing it by two thirds.
• Chairman Dave Lester said COCA’s executive committee made some tough decisions and that action, combined with the hard work of staff, enabled the association to put financial difficulties aside. He said COCA is now better known to the provincial government and the association’s website is gaining more and more hits from government every week.
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