Federal road transport health and safety manual template (English and French)
A complete written occupational health and safety program for federally regulated road transport: trucking, courier and bus companies whose work crosses a provincial or national border. It is written to Part II of the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations (COHSR) as your hazard prevention program, and laid out on the 14 national COR elements for carriers that hold or want COR. You get it in English and in French, both editable Word files you make your own: your name, your logo, your terminals and your fleet.
A look inside
Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.
What’s in the manual
1. Safety and health policy
A signed, dated policy, how you keep it and the whole program current, and written responsibilities for everyone: in terminals, docks, yards, shops and offices, and in every cab on the road.
2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control
The hazard identification and assessment methodology, formal assessments, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, critical tasks, preventive measures in the federal order of priority, field-level hazard assessments and management review, all done with your committee or representative as the COHSR requires.
3. Safe work practices
Twelve practices for carrier work: yard and dock traffic, pre-trip inspection, coupling, loading and docks, cargo securement, work at heights on loads and decks, forklifts, manual handling and cab access, fuelling, shop work, fatigue, winter driving and working alone, and WHMIS and dangerous goods, each cited to the COHSR.
4. Safe job procedures
Step-by-step procedures for six critical tasks, from lockout and blocking a vehicle and coupling a trailer to entering a trailer with a forklift, changing a wheel, batteries and tarping, and a table of the written procedures and plans the federal regulations require.
5. Company safety rules
Company rules for every terminal, shop, yard, dock and trip, terminal and customer site rules, and a progressive discipline process that is applied consistently and never used against an employee for acting under Part II of the Code.
6. Personal protective equipment
The protection equipment you require and how it is chosen, fit, care and use, telling and training employees, and inspection and maintenance.
7. Preventative maintenance program
An inventory of every vehicle and piece of equipment, schedules to the manufacturer and the regulations, maintenance records, who may do the work, and taking defective equipment out of service.
8. Training and communication
Deciding who needs what training, confirming required training before work starts, job-specific and supervisor training, competency checks, orientation for new, young and returning employees, safety meetings, and toolbox talks and driver briefings.
9. Inspections
What is inspected, how often and by whom, at every terminal, dock, yard, shop and office and on every vehicle, the forms and pre-use checklists, and correcting what you find.
10. Investigations and reporting
What to report, to whom and when, near misses, who investigates and their training, investigations, corrective action, and sharing what you learn.
11. Emergency preparedness
Emergency plans for each work place and for drivers on the road, equipment, training and roles, drills, the yearly review, spills and hazardous products, and first aid.
12. Statistics, records and document control
Document control and records retention, leading and lagging indicators, year-over-year trends, first aid records and audit action plans, with every review the law requires in one table.
13. Legislation
Part II of the Canada Labour Code in plain words: the law at your work places, using it in planning, the rights and duties of employers, supervisors and employees, enforcement, and the federal terms your crews will hear.
14. Procurement and contractor management
Choosing and monitoring contractors and service providers, co-ordinating health and safety with other employers who share a work place, and buying products and equipment safely.
15. Federal requirements
What Part II and its regulations require beyond the 14 elements: the hazard prevention program under COHSR Part XIX mapped item by item, the policy committee, work place committee or representative, internal complaints and the right to refuse, hazardous occurrence reporting and the annual report, harassment and violence prevention, first aid, and reports and postings.
Appendix A. COR cross-reference
All 74 documentation questions of the 14 national COR elements, what each looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether an auditor will also want your records. Each entry links to its section.
Appendix B. Forms
34 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: hazard assessments and field-level hazard assessments, inspections and pre-use checklists, maintenance, orientation, training and competency, safety meetings and toolbox talks, incidents and witness statements, emergencies and drills, statistics, contractors, the implementation plan and program evaluation, committee meetings, internal complaints, refusals to work and hazardous occurrence investigations.
Your hazard prevention program
Part II of the Canada Labour Code requires every federally regulated employer to develop, implement and monitor a hazard prevention program with its policy committee, work place committee or health and safety representative, and Part XIX of the COHSR says what it contains: an implementation plan, a methodology, the assessment itself, preventive measures, employee training and an evaluation. This manual is written to be that program, and section 15.1 shows where each part is met.
It covers the work places you control, your terminals, cross-docks, warehouses, shops, yards and offices, and the work your drivers do on the road and at customers’ sites.
Laid out for COR
The federal government has no COR program, and the Canada Labour Code does not refer to COR. Many carriers hold COR with a provincial safety association all the same, so the manual follows the 14 elements every harmonized COR audit shares, and Appendix A shows where each of the 74 documentation questions is answered.
Check it against your association’s own audit tool and provincial supplement. A template can’t earn a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim it does. What it gives you is a complete, audit-shaped program to put in place.
Written to federal law as it stands
Every requirement is cited to the Canada Labour Code, the COHSR, the committee regulations or the harassment and violence regulations, checked against the official consolidations current to September 21, 2026.
Amendments to the COHSR made in 2026 take effect on January 30, 2027, adding written procedures for heat and cold among other changes. When they do, we update both editions and you get them free.
Lifetime updates
When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template, on its own or in the Federal Carrier Bundle. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.
Version 1.0 October 2, 2026
- First edition, in English and French, written to Part II of the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations as the hazard prevention program, laid out on the 14 national COR elements.
- Checked against the official consolidations current to September 21, 2026, with the committee and harassment and violence regulations.
Complete your federal program
The Federal Carrier Bundle has all three for $549.95, $149.90 less than buying them separately. Or buy templates together and save on the whole order: 2 for 10% off, 3 for 15% off, 4+ for 20% off.
Questions
Who is federally regulated?
Part II of the Canada Labour Code covers employment in federal works, undertakings and businesses: for example, trucking, bus and courier companies whose work crosses a provincial or national border, airlines, railways, shipping, banks, telecommunications and broadcasting, and federal Crown corporations. Most other employers are provincially regulated and follow their own province’s law. Whether a business is federal depends on how it actually operates, so if you are not sure, confirm it with the Labour Program or a lawyer before you rely on a federal template.
Is this the same as an NSC safety program?
No. This manual is your occupational health and safety program under Part II of the Canada Labour Code: the health and safety of your employees at work, in the cab, on the dock and in the shop. The safety and maintenance program the National Safety Code and your base jurisdiction ask a carrier to keep, covering driver qualification, hours of service, trip inspection, maintenance and cargo securement, is a different document: our NSC Safety and Maintenance Program. A federally regulated carrier with trucks over 4,500 kg or buses usually needs both, and the Federal Carrier Bundle has both, with the harassment and violence prevention program.
Does it cover harassment and violence prevention?
It summarizes what Part II requires in section 15.5 and points to your harassment and violence prevention program, which has its own regulations and is a separate document. Our Federal Workplace Harassment and Violence Prevention Program is that document, and it is in the Federal Carrier Bundle.
Do I get both the English and the French manual?
Yes. Every purchase includes both editions as separate Word files, and both are on your confirmation page, in your email and in Find my downloads. Lifetime updates cover both.
Will this manual get us COR?
It gives you the written program a COR audit reviews, laid out on the 14 national elements with every documentation question answered and cross-referenced. Certification also depends on your records, employee interviews, what the auditor observes and your association’s own audit tool, so no template can promise a pass. It is a template, not legal advice.
What format is the manual in?
Two editable Microsoft Word (.docx) files on US Letter pages, one in English and one in French. They work best in desktop Word for Windows or Mac. They also open in Google Docs and Word on the web, where you use Find and replace to put your company name in.
What happens when the law changes?
We update the template, and you get every update free for as long as we publish it: lifetime updates at no extra charge, in both languages. We email you when a new edition is ready, with what changed and a link to download it.
Does it work with TruStar Connect?
Yes. The manual rates risk on the same 5 × 5 matrix TruStar Connect uses for its hazard register and investigations, so if you run your program in Connect, your ratings, bands and actions carry straight over.
Can I use it for more than one company?
Each purchase is licensed to one company. Consultants setting up programs for several clients should contact us.
Want it built for you?
Our safety advisors set up and run fleet safety for carriers: driver files, hours of service, maintenance and NSC compliance, and the health and safety program around them.
Transportation management