NSC audits and mock facility audits in Alberta
A facility audit examines your on highway performance and your safety management practices in considerable detail. A mock audit runs the same examination while the result still belongs to you.
What an NSC audit actually looks at
Under NSC Standard 15, a facility audit is a detailed review of a carrier's on highway performance and its safety management activities. In Alberta these audits are conducted by the province and by certified third party auditors acting on its behalf.
The auditor is not looking for whether you are a safe operator in spirit. The auditor is looking for evidence, in your records, that the required systems exist and are being followed. A carrier can run a genuinely safe operation and still fail an audit because the paperwork does not prove it.
A First Call mock audit runs that same examination in advance. Same standards, same evidence tests, same scoring logic. The difference is that the findings list arrives as a private document with time to act on it, rather than as an official result.
What the review covers
- Driver qualification files. Abstracts, licence class and endorsements, medicals, training records, and whether the file is complete for every driver on staff.
- Hours of service records. Daily logs or ELD data, supporting documents, cycle compliance and the monitoring you are required to be doing yourself.
- Vehicle maintenance. The written maintenance program, periodic inspection records, repair history, defect reporting and trip inspection reports.
- Collision records. Whether reportable collisions are recorded, investigated and retained the way they need to be.
- Safety policies and their evidence. A policy that exists on paper but cannot be shown to have reached your drivers is a finding, not a control.
- Dangerous goods documentation where it applies to your operation.
- Your carrier profile, read alongside the records, because the profile is usually what triggered the audit in the first place.
Already have an audit notice?
Mention it in your first message. When there is a date on the calendar the work changes: the priority becomes closing the highest scoring gaps in the time available, not building the perfect long term system. Both matter. The order matters more.
How a mock audit runs
Scope call
Fleet size, operating status, what your carrier profile currently looks like and whether an audit notice has already arrived. This determines the scope and the price.
Document request
A specific list of what to pull, with a sampling method that mirrors how an auditor selects files. You are not asked to send everything.
Examination
Records reviewed against the applicable NSC standards. On site work is added where the operation, the yard or the maintenance program needs to be seen.
Findings report
Every item written as an auditor would write it, separated into what would be scored against you and what is merely untidy.
Corrective action plan
A prioritised fix list with templates and process changes, sequenced so the highest scoring items get closed first.
Re check
Once the fixes are in, a verification pass so you know the gap is genuinely closed rather than just documented.
Common questions
What triggers an NSC facility audit in Alberta?
The most common trigger is your carrier profile. When on road performance, convictions or collisions push the profile into the monitoring range, the province can escalate. Audits are also triggered by a serious collision, a public complaint, certain changes in operating status, and as a new carrier compliance review during your early period of operation.
How long does a mock audit take?
For a small fleet with organised records, usually a matter of days. For a larger fleet, or one where records are scattered across trucks, offices and a former employee's filing system, longer. The scope call gives you a realistic timeline before you commit.
We already failed an audit. Can you help with the corrective action plan?
Yes, and this is a common reason carriers call. There is a difference between a corrective action plan that satisfies the requirement and one that actually changes what the next audit finds. The second one is the point.
Will a mock audit guarantee we pass?
No, and be careful of anyone who says otherwise. What it does is remove the surprises. You will know before the audit what the findings would be, and you will have had the chance to close them.
Other services
COR Audits
Certificate of Recognition audits through AMTA, certification to renewal
Learn moreLog Auditing
Hours of service, daily logs and ELD records
Learn moreMaintenance Reviews
NSC Standard 11 and 11B, CVIP and repair records
Learn moreCarrier Profile Services
Read it, fix it, and keep it out of the intervention range
Learn moreIncident Investigation
Collisions and near misses investigated to a standard that holds up
Learn moreCommercial Driver Training
Practical training that stands up in an audit
Learn more
Book this review before the province books one for you.
A short scope call costs nothing and usually tells you straight away whether you have a problem worth paying to fix.