The carrier profile system was designed to identify higher-risk carriers to provincial regulators and to assist carriers in internally monitoring their on-road safety performance.

National Safety Code (NSC) Standard 7 requires all Canadian jurisdictions to maintain a carrier profile on each of their NSC carriers. Each of these NSC carriers is also required to hold a Safety Fitness Certificate. Sometimes, the safety fitness certificate is referred to an “NSC number” or a “Commercial Vehicle Operator Registration” in certain jurisdictions.

The carrier profile system is used to consolidate all information collected under the safety fitness certificate and can be used by provincial and territorial regulators to identify the five percent of carriers who pose the greatest safety risk to other highway users.