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National Safety Code Compliance Tips

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What is the National Safety Code?

The National Safety Code (NSC) program establishes management and performance requirements for commercial carriers and establish’s minimum safety standards for commercial vehicles and drivers. 

Who enforces the National Safety Code?

The Commercial Vehicle Safety & Enforcement program, (CVSE) a division of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, enforces the National Safety Code. These are the people you see on the side of the road with the flashy lights.

They aren’t the police, they don’t carry a side arm but they can write you a tremendous amount of fines in one shot.

What is an NSC audit?

Too many infractions against against your NSC certificate will trigger an audit. The rationale behind the NSC program is that carriers are responsible for mechanical maintenance of their commercial vehicles and the actions of drivers over which they exercise control.

What are the majority of infractions?

Most problems occur from

  • Log book/Hours of service violations,
  • poor preventative maintenance programs and
  • a non functioning Safety Program.

Would your business pass an NSC Audit?

Don’t take a chance on loosing your NSC certificate. Have us look at what your company is doing, and how we can assist you to be more efficient and keep you out of hot water with CVSE.

  • We can provide your company with a functioning safety program, Vehicle Maintenance and employee training tracking software, and provide training in Hours of Service and Log book documentation.

Where do the audits happen?

Most times you are required to bring your files containing log books, vehicle maintenance records and driver training records to the CVSE office closest to your place of business. The CVSE could ask for 6 months worth of records for any period of time.

BCFSC Changes Safety Audit Format

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How Has Safety Audit System Changed?

The BC Forest Safety Council has changed the way safety audits are submitted. I have highlighted some of the changes to the submission that I have found.

The new version:

  • Has categories of audit submissions on one form
  • Removed the scoring summary
  • No longer requires you to disclose where you keep your files.
  • Does not require you to explain how the supervisor is qualified
  • Does not require you to submit basic Safety Rules
  • Safety Orientations are submitted for new workers only.
  • Has less policy required in your submission.

Safety audit requirements include documenting safety meetings and inspections

What I like About New Safety Audit Process

The BC Forest Safety Council is listening to Industry and working to streamline the safety audits.

The older audits were organized by elements with letters, A,B,C etc. The old audit has basically been pulled apart and  rebuilt in a different format using elements with numbers, 1,2,3, etc. A 10% reduction in submission documents.

What I Don’t Like About New Safety Audit Process

The BC Safety council has indicated in its explanation of the new safety audit version that the supervisors and owners of forest companies should be conducting safety site inspections themselves, including hazard assessments and any other site related inspections.

According to BCFSC, third party inspections are not sufficient to be submitted with the safety audit.

Many older logging and silviculture contractors prefer to hire safety contractors to visit their sites and complete the paperwork. The information collected by a third party is still communicated to the owners and workers and kept on file.

Conclusions

Hiring a contractor like Finning to come on a work site site and fix a piece of equipment to keep a business running is essentially like hiring a safety consultant to come onsite to keep the paperwork organized so Safe Certification can be maintained allowing the business  to continue.

The BCFSC is working to make it easier for companies to gather information and submit their own audits. I do think that safety consultants provide a valuable service in helping keep companies on track by providing safety advice and site visits which helps owners and supervisors run their business safely and efficiently.

What does the SAFE Companies program mean?

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The letters SAFE stand for Safety Accord Forestry Enterprise.

The Safe Companies program was an initiative developed by the BC forest sector to address safety in the forest industry. It was designed to provide assistance for companies in improving their safety performance and to evaluate company safety programs using industry recognized audit protocols.

Since the inception of this program, the types and sizes of companies that can be evaluated using one of three different audit tools has changed.  

  • BASE audit (Basic Audit Safety Evaluation)  is for companies that have 20 or more workers, 
  • SEBASE audit (Small Employer BASE)  is for companies that have between 6 and 19 workers, 
  • ISEBASE audit (Independent Small Employer BASE) is for companies between 2 -5 persons and 
  • Independent Owner Operator (IOO)  program is for independent owner operators of 1 person companies.

More companies are becoming SAFE CERTIFIED!

I have been getting alot of enquiries lately from companies who are Individual Owner Operator mechanics and crane companies for example who want to become certified because they feel they may be loosing out on work to other companies that are safe certified.

It’s a great idea to get the designation regardless because it makes sense to continuously be looking at your safety practices and think how you can  improve on them. I am always looking at better ways of conducting my business as well as yours more effectively and efficiently.

I get satisfaction from seeing workers wanting to talk about safety concerns at safety meetings and genuinely contributing to the companies overall safety program.

How Simple is SAFE Certification?

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Develop a Safety Program That’s Simple to Use


You don’t need a $5000 Safety program to help your company achieve and maintain its SAFE CERTIFICATION. If you take a look at the BC Forest Safety Council’s website and pull up the Audit section, you can see what the Council is requiring for you to meet its standards. Our Safety Programs target key points that have to be addressed by your company for the Audit Submission to be successful.

Forms That Capture More Information

Instead of using Multiple Inspection, Evaluating and Reporting Forms for your business to achieve and maintain Safe Certification, we have developed templates that capture all the information you need on one page. It makes it easier to complete your audit each year because you can refer back to that one form for more that one of the Audit questions. It also lessens the amount of paperwork you need to fill out on site.