Carrier profiles and reviews - Newfoundland and Labrador

Safety fitness certificates

Carriers operating commercial vehicles in Newfoundland/Labrador must obtain a safety fitness certificate (also referred to as a safety fitness number or safety code number). A carrier or person may not operate, allow, or cause to be operated a commercial vehicle upon a highway unless the carrier responsible for that vehicle:

• Has applied to be registered and 90 days have not passed since that application was made; or
• Is registered and has a safety rating of “satisfactory-audited,” “satisfactory-unaudited,” or “conditional.”

A commercial vehicle is a truck, tractor, or trailer or any combination of them exceeding a registered gross vehicle weight of 4,500 kilograms, a bus, a school bus, a school purpose vehicle (as defined in the Bus Regulations), or a disabled passenger vehicle as defined in the Official Inspection Station Regulations.

An application for registration must be submitted no more than 60 days after the applicant starts operation as a carrier.

Carrier profiles

The Profile System provides the government with a record of each driver and carrier’s performance and is the enforcement mechanism by which government may remove unsatisfactory drivers and carriers from service. The system was fully implemented in 1993.

All commercial vehicle operators, including brokers, must be registered with the Motor Registration Division as a “commercial carrier.” Thereafter, a carrier profile will be maintained on the commercial carrier and all convictions, accidents or inspections on any of the carrier’s vehicles, will be recorded in the profile. Points (compliance indicators with a numerical value) will be assessed the carrier for all accidents, certain offenses and any defective vehicles with more than one defect.

Each carrier will be assigned a threshold, or a maximum number of points they can accumulate in a two-year period — based on how many vehicles they operate. If a carrier accumulates more points than its threshold within any two year period, the carrier threshold level will have been violated and the carrier will receive a threshold level violation letter.

After the threshold level has increased, carriers may be subject to the following actions by the Department of Government Services:

• 15% Threshold — a warning letter is sent and a compliance review or audit may occur.
• 50% Threshold — a warning letter is sent and an audit will be performed.
• 70% Threshold — a facility audit (a detailed review of the carrier’s records to determine areas of non-compliance) and a hearing before the registrar will be conducted.
• 100% Threshold — hearing is held to determine if carrier can continue to operate.

Notwithstanding the above information, a facility audit or a compliance review where warranted may be conducted at any time.

Facility audits

The facility audit is an in-depth inspection of a carrier’s activities relative to applicable safety standards. It consists of an examination of records and related source documents, interviews with personnel responsible for safety management and an inspection of vehicles on site.