NATIONAL SAFETY CODE: A SUMMARY

A. DEFINITIONS

Commercial Vehicle

  • A truck or truck and trailer combinations exceeding the GVW of 4500 kgs
  • This would include all of our truck and trailer combinations and any of our trucks that weigh over 4500 kgs without a trailer.

Commercial Driver

  • All DyTerra employees who are registered with NSC and will operate a DyTerra Commercial Vehicle.
  • Remember all commercial drivers can work a maximum of 14 hours per day and be eligible to drive a commercial vehicle as part of their day, up to 13 hours of the 14.

Home Terminal

  • Home Terminal refers to your work location. This can be the shop or your job site, as long as you remain within 160km of the job site and start and end your day at that work location.

B. ELIGIBILITY TO DRIVE

The only hours that count against your eligibility to drive commercially are when you are actually working or driving.  

  1. If you are sitting in a hotel room, these hours are off-duty and do not count against your eligibility to drive.
  2. If you are getting paid as a passenger in a commercial vehicle, this time is also logged as off-duty. EXCEPTION: The only exception to this rule is that you need to take 8 consecutive hours off-duty before driving a commercial vehicle. (You can’t sit as a passenger for 6 hours and then take over driving for another 9 hours.)
  3. Drivers may not operate commercial vehicles while their ability or alertness is impaired in any way by fatigue. No motor carrier, shipper, consignee or other person shall request, require or allow a driver to drive and no driver shall drive if the driver’s faculties are impaired to the point where it is unsafe for the driver to drive.

C. HOURS OF SERVICE – SERVICE ONLY

The Hours of Service for our Service Divisions is: 

  1. You may work a maximum of 70 hours in seven days. You can work 7 x 10 hour days or any combination of 70 hours (for example, 3 x 12-hour days, 1 x 10-hour day and 3 x 8-hour days) as long as the Commercial Driver averages no more than 70 hours in the last 7 days.
  2. There is a daily maximum of 13 hours of commercial driving and 14 hours of total on-duty time.
  3. After 70 hours, a 36-hour reset (time off, not on duty) is required before you can drive a commercial vehicle. If not driving a commercial vehicle by definition, the rules do not apply.

D. HOURS OF SERVICE - CONSTRUCTION ONLY

To give us the most flexibility, we have chosen to use the Sliding Window Cycle for the Construction Division. This allows Commercial Drivers to work or drive a maximum of 70 hours in the past 7 days. You can work 7 x 10 hour days or any combination of 70 hours (for example, 3 x 12-hour days, 1 x 10-hour day and 3 x 8-hour days) as long as the Commercial Driver averages no more than 70 hours in the last 7 days. 
When you are on the road and are working on the 8th day, the 1st day drops off your scale, and it is those most recent 7 days that are now counted. No matter what, you cannot be a Commercial Driver on the 14th day. This means that you can work 12 days in a row, with the last 7 days hours totaling no more than 70 hours and then you can still drive home on day 13. Day 14 is always a rest day if you plan on driving when on the Sliding Window Cycle. 
If you end up on the road for more than 13 days, the Commercial Driver needs a 24-hour break on day 14 and then the Sliding Window Cycle begins again and the same rules apply. 
The site foreman needs to take this into consideration when managing the crew to ensure that, if a Commercial Driver is needed, this individual works no more than 70 hours in the past 7 days.

E. TIMESHEETS & LOGS

What to Track and Retain
All DyTerra Commercial Drivers must track the following every day (7 days a week):  

a.    On-duty not driving
b.    Commercial driving
c.    Off-duty time
d.    You must be able to account for every day, even weekends and off-duty days.
e.    NSC requires you to always keep the last 14 days of timesheets/logs with you.

When to use a Weekly Time Sheet: 
If operating at a “Home Terminal”, you can record time on a weekly time sheet. If an inspector asks to see your log book, and you have not been filling one out because you are within 160km of the job site (your Home Terminal) you will get a ticket if you say “I don’t have one.” You must say “I don’t need one as I am driving within 160km of my Home Terminal”. This is how they ensure you know the rules.

When to use a Daily Log:  
A Daily Log must be completed for the day if operating outside the 160 km radius. 

F. DAILY INSPECTION FORMS & FUEL/MAINTENANCE RECEIPTS

Daily Vehicle Inspection Report
A daily vehicle inspection report must be completed at the start of every day when the Commercial Vehicle will be driven. This is now available on the FastField app.

Fuel & Maintenance Receipts

Fuel and maintenance receipts must each reference the unit(s) number of the vehicle.  Neither of these receipts are required to stay in the vehicle with the Commercial Driver past the day completed and must be submitted to the office. Fuel cards are for filling the tank of the truck that the card is allocated to. Equipment cards are for filling fuel containers for equipment such as a welder or onsite powered mobile equipment.

G. PAPERWORK SUBMISSION

What to Submit
Paperwork needs to be submitted in a timely manner to ensure our compliance with NSC. The paperwork to submit is the following: 

  1. Weekly Timesheets (white copy)
  2. Daily Logs (white copy)
  3. Daily Vehicle Inspection Reports - FastField app
  4. Fuel and Maintenance Receipts

When to Submit:

  • Construction Road Division: Submit to Construction Administration staff at the end of each 10-day work stint.
  • Construction Shop and all Service Staff: Submit to your Office Administrator each Friday.

What to Retain with you:

  • Weekly Timesheets (yellow copy)
  • Daily Logs (yellow copy)

Retain these with you for 14 days. Once the 14 days have passed, please return these to your administrator.  
Note: 

  • It is very important to keep your weekly timesheet & daily logs with you at all times, failure to do this could result in fines. RCMP, City Police, DOT Officer have the authority to stop a commercial vehicle and enforce fines.
  • Failure by drivers, who do not turn in their paperwork for monthly HOS audits completed by Nichol Commercial Licensing, may result in non-compliance violation letter. Potential fines and disciplinary action by DyTerra.
  • Drivers completing electronic inspections or Hours of Service must have blank paper versions readily available in case the electronics are not properly working.
Vehicle CHeat Sheet

Vehicle CHeat Sheet