With a good safety management system, it takes four to six weeks to become SAFE certified. A small employer can become certified in as little as 48 hours, while a large employer with a deficient system and need for a external audit may require a year or more.

1. Registration
- Complete and submit registration form with payment
2. Training (choose one depending on company size)
- IOO – 4-hour teleconference, offered once a month, usually on Saturday mornings
- SEBASE – 2-day in-person course, offered several times per year in major centres or an online course
- BASE – 3-day in-person course offered 3 times per year.

3. Building/upgrading your safety management system to minimum standards
- From 0 days to more than 1 year depending on size of company and deficiencies
4. Audit package (choose the one appropriate for company size)
- IOO – Complete 14 questions; takes 2-4 hours with an average business filing system (easy to find required information)
- SEBASE or ISEBASE – Owner/permanent employee to complete 24 questions; takes 4-8 hours with an average business filing system
- BASE – Certified external auditor completes 40 questions, including interviews with company personnel and observations of work sites typically 3-5 days for audit completion, and 1-2 weeks for auditor’s report
- Note: It can take up to 3 months lead time to book a BASE external auditor
5. Audit review and issuing certificate
typical review time for a passing submission is 4-6 weeks, except in June/July and December/January peak periods where it may take 8-10 weeks.
- under special circumstances with a written justification, 2-day rush service may be arranged but this is not recommended or guaranteed and is not usually available during peak periods.
- review of deficient audits takes longer and may require multiple attempts.
Note: telephone support is available for all stages of certification. Call toll-free 1-877-741-1060.