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The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators (CCMTA) developed the National Safety Code (NSC) as a way to efficiently apply motor carrier, vehicle, and driver safety standards and procedures uniformly throughout Canada. NSC Standard 11, Maintenance and Periodic Inspection Standards, covers both the maintenance requirements and the periodic inspection requirements. Part A covers the maintenance requirements.
Motor carriers with commercial vehicles are required to comply with the maintenance standards in NSC Standard 11, Part A.
National Safety Code Standard 11, Maintenance and Periodic Inspection Standards
NSC Standard 11, Commercial Vehicle Maintenance Standard, was adopted by all jurisdictions and industry to provide guidelines on a minimum acceptable level of performance for commercial vehicle systems and components.
Though not identical, the standard is similar to U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulations (FMCSR) Part 393, which covers parts and accessories for safe operation.
A number of Canadian jurisdictions exempt specific types of vehicles from the requirements of this standard, for example vehicles leased for 30 days or less, light trucks with a gross vehicle weight of 4,500 kg or less, fire trucks or ambulances. Some jurisdictions further exempt farm (2 or 3 axle) vehicles used for hauling primary products and recreational vehicles.
Every commercial vehicle operator must ensure that each vehicle that is owned or leased by the operator, including trailers, meets the requirements contained in the maintenance standard. Every operator must have a system to inspect, maintain and repair each of the owned or leased vehicles at regular intervals.
No predetermined time intervals have been specified in the standard for the cycle of inspection and maintenance. When the standard was first drafted it was considered too difficult to attempt to specify time requirements because of the difference in equipment, the applications for which the equipment is subjected, and the distance which might be travelled by different types of equipment. In addition, industry representatives put forward the view that there was a need for flexibility in implementing fleet maintenance programs. It was acknowledged that carriers and operators were better suited to determine the intervals for regular servicing and maintenance of their vehicles. It should be noted however that some jurisdictions do specify the maximum mileage or time which can elapse between maintenance intervals.
Each carrier must establish a system of preventative vehicle inspection, maintenance and repair for every truck, bus, and trailer it operates, and keep an up-to-date maintenance and repair record for each vehicle under its control. As a minimum, the record or vehicle file should contain the following:
Mandatory Periodic Commercial Motor Vehicle Inspection Programs Inspection Cycles by Jurisdiction