According to provincial transportation safety laws, every carrier must designate a person to serve as the “Safety Officer” in their company. The Safety Officer must have complete knowledge and understanding of the company’s safety program.
A Safety Officer is responsible for coordinating all policies, information and training related to safety. Responsibilities can include:
Companies may choose to have more than one person involved in the implementation of their safety program. They may create a committee or team who is responsible for overseeing different parts of the safety program (e.g. one person may be responsible for National Safety Code compliance, while another is responsible for Environmental compliance, and another responsible for OH&S requirements).
For smaller companies, it may make more sense to hire a consultant to help implement and provide oversight of their Safety Program. A consultant can help the company achieve compliance and provide insight and recommendations to management.
8 Elements Consulting can help! We can do things like help you maintain driver & vehicle files to the provincial standards, make sure your company’s Safety Program is up to date, monitor hours of service records for your drivers and keep an eye on your Carrier Profile. We can even help create forms and facilitate Safety Meetings for you and your staff. All of this will help to improve your on-road performance and make sure that you are ready for a government audit or review, when the time comes.
It is a carrier’s responsibility to ensure they are aware of what their Safety Officer is doing to implement and maintain their safety program. They must ensure the program meets provincial or federal transportation laws and any other laws that may apply to the company (such as environmental or OH&S laws).
If you have any questions regarding the role of a Safety Officer or would like help making sure you meet the regulatory requirements, let us know!