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

  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. 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 Motive HOS 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. 

E. 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 completed in Motive.

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.

F. SUBMISSION

  •  It is very important to have your smartphone with the Motive app 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 to complete required paperwork may result in non-compliance violation letter. Potential fines and disciplinary action by DyTerra.