Carrier Profile System

Scope

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 from the province in which the carriers are licensing commercial vehicles. This includes carriers that operate:

Regulatory citations

National Safety Code Standard 7

Key definitions

• Carrier profile: A report obtained from a carrier’s base jurisdiction that gives an overview of the commercial carrier’s performance.
• Commercial vehicle: Trucks, tractors, or trailers, or any combination of them, that have a registered gross vehicle weight exceeding 4,500 kilograms; or buses with a seating capacity of more than 10 persons, including the driver.

Summary of requirements

Enforcement information from across North America related to carriers authorized to operate commercial vehicles is gathered by each Canadian jurisdiction. This information includes:

• Convictions against the carrier and its drivers,
• Administrative penalties issued for impaired driving charges,
• Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) inspections,
• Collision information, and
• Facility audit information.

The provincial Carrier Profile system is used to consolidate all information collected and can be used by provincial regulators to identify the five percent of carriers who pose the greatest safety risk to other highway users.

A standard Carrier Profile report includes at least 12 months of events involving NSC vehicles registered in the carrier's name and the persons driving those vehicles. Events include a detailed history of convictions, administrative penalties, CVSA inspections, reportable collisions, and violations.

The carrier report card Carrier Profile is a “Report Card” of the carrier’s compliance with “On-Road” and “Administrative” requirements and performance based on information collected from across Canada and the United States. Only the carrier named in the Carrier Profile, their authorized agent, or an enforcement agency can obtain a copy of the full profile information.

Every carrier operating NSC vehicles registered with the province has a carrier profile. If this carrier also has NSC vehicles registered in another jurisdiction, then that jurisdiction will issue a separate SFC and maintain a Carrier Profile which identifies profile events relative to the NSC vehicles plated in that jurisdiction.

Carrier profile formats vary between jurisdictions. The standard Carrier Profile includes information regarding:

• A carrier’s Safety Fitness Rating;
• A carrier’s Operating Status (federal or provincial, as applicable in the province); and
• At least 12 months of events involving NSC vehicles registered in the carrier’s name and the persons driving those vehicles, including:
  • Convictions;
  • CVSA inspections; and
  • Reportable collisions from all Canadian jurisdictions; and
  • Violations identified in the province where no charges were laid.
  The Carrier Profile is divided into 10 parts as follows:
• Part 1 - Carrier Information
• Part 2 - Conviction Information
• Part 3 - CVSA Inspection Information
• Part 4 - Collision Information
• Part 5 - Violation Information
• Part 6 - Monitoring Information (by request only)
• Part 7 - Station Licence Information (by request only)
• Part 8 - Safety Rating Information (by request only)
• Part 9 – For internal use only, however, a carrier can request this section when obtaining a Carrier Profile and as a result, extra information is displayed under
• Part 10
• Part 10 - Historical Summary (by request only)

Where a carrier leases on an owner/operator and the owner/operator’s vehicle is registered in the carrier’s name, all profile events involving the owner-operator will be displayed on the carrier’s profile.

Obtaining the carrier profile

To encourage carriers to obtain and review their carrier profile, the provinces may offer incentives or special pricing for obtaining carrier profiles. For example, Alberta government provides two free profiles to carriers annually. A fee of $2 + GST per page is charged thereafter.

A copy of a Carrier Profile can be requested by:

• The carrier;
• An authorized employee of the carrier; or
• If previously authorized in writing, a carrier representative (e.g. a consultant, an insurance company, etc.).

A company’s Carrier Profile is typically printed for a 12-month period, however, a carrier can request any period starting from April 1998.

Although the Carrier Profile only provides after-the-fact information about a company’s on-road and administrative compliance, it can be a useful tool. If used properly, the Carrier Profile can help carriers to be proactive rather than reactive. It allows carriers to identify and take appropriate corrective action thereby helping them prevent further violations and reduce the probability and severity of a future collision.