Alberta NSC carriers: getting ready for your new carrier compliance review
In Alberta, a carrier operating trucks or trailers with a registered weight of 11,794 kg or more only within Alberta, or more than 4,500 kg outside Alberta, or buses designed for 11 or more people, needs a Safety Fitness Certificate. A new carrier then has a new carrier compliance review, due before the first anniversary of the certificate, in which a certified reviewer examines your written safety and maintenance programs, driver files, hours of service records, trip inspection reports and vehicle files. Getting those records in order from the first day is most of the work.
By Quick Safety Compliance · · 4 min read
Who needs a Safety Fitness Certificate
When you renew the certificate, the province asks for your operating status (within Alberta only, or outside Alberta), the nature of your business and the names of the people in charge of your safety and maintenance programs. Those names need a written program behind them. Whether you are regulated provincially or federally depends on where you operate and how your work connects to activities outside Alberta, which is why we sell an Alberta edition and a federal edition of the program.
- Trucks or trailers, alone or combined, with a registered weight of 11,794 kg or more, operating solely within Alberta.
- Trucks or trailers with a registered weight of more than 4,500 kg used to transport goods outside Alberta, including farm-plated vehicles.
- Buses: vehicles originally designed to carry 11 or more people, including the driver, used to transport passengers.
What the new carrier compliance review looks at
Alberta describes the new carrier compliance review as a way to help a new carrier understand what National Safety Code compliance requires. It is due before the first anniversary of the carrier's Safety Fitness Certificate, and a certified third-party auditor or reviewer examines your records and reports to the ministry, in person or remotely. The department lists the documents it requests for an audit:
- Your insurance coverage and a recent carrier profile.
- Written safety and maintenance programs.
- Driver files.
- Hours of service records, supported by payroll, gate tickets and fuel receipts.
- Trip inspection reports.
- Vehicle files.
Records to keep, and for how long
These periods are for carriers regulated by Alberta. Federally regulated carriers should check the federal rules for their records as well.
- Vehicle records: identification of each vehicle, inspections, repairs, lubrication and maintenance with dates and odometer readings, manufacturer defect notices and the work done, kept for the current calendar year and the 4 calendar years before it (Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation, s. 37 and 38(1)).
- Records of a vehicle permanently retired from use: 6 months after it is retired or disposed of (s. 38(2)).
- Trip inspection reports: the driver sends the original to the home terminal within 20 days, and the carrier keeps each one in date order for each vehicle for at least 6 months (s. 13).
- Drivers' daily logs and daily records: the carrier keeps them for at least 6 months from the date recorded (Drivers' Hours of Service Regulation, s. 16).
Get ready in the first month
- Write and sign your safety and maintenance program, and name the people responsible for it.
- Open a driver file for every driver, with licence, abstract, training and the records your program calls for.
- Open a vehicle file for every unit, with its maintenance schedule and inspection records.
- Set up trip inspection reports and make sure originals come back to the office on time.
- Set up hours of service records and keep the supporting documents that show they are accurate.
- Diary the review date so nothing is due the week you are busiest.
Driver files that hold up
Driver files are an easy place for a new carrier to come up short, because drivers can start before the paperwork is finished. Set a rule that nobody drives a commercial vehicle until the file is complete, and check each file against your own program: licence class and expiry, a current driver abstract, the training and orientation your program requires, hours of service records, and any warnings or discipline. Diary every expiry date and pull fresh abstracts on the schedule your program sets.
What happens if you miss a condition
If a carrier misses the due date on an assigned condition, Alberta suspends its Safety Fitness Certificate on the next business day, and its NSC vehicles cannot operate until the audit is completed and the documents are reviewed. The facility audit that follows for established carriers can lead to a change in safety rating, conditions or administrative penalties, so the same records matter every year after the first.
The written program
Our NSC Safety and Maintenance Program is one editable Word document, $99 CAD, in an Alberta edition and a federal edition. It covers driver qualification and files, hours of service, trip inspections and defect reporting, scheduled maintenance and the records kept for each unit. The Trucking and NSC bundle adds a health and safety manual for your shop and yard for $549.
Read the rules
Questions
When is the new carrier compliance review due?
Before the first anniversary of your Safety Fitness Certificate, according to Alberta's carrier audit page.
Do I need the Alberta or the federal program?
It depends on your operating status. Alberta decides whether a carrier is regulated under provincial or federal rules from where the carrier operates and how its work connects to activities outside Alberta, using its published criteria for determining operating status. Use the edition that matches the status on your certificate.
How long do I keep maintenance records?
For a carrier regulated by Alberta, the current calendar year and the 4 calendar years before it (Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation, s. 38(1)).
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