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Membership

Committee is to facilitate a carrier’s application for membership. However, the right to grant or deny membership to any applicant is the exclusive mandate of the Advisory Council, although appeals are permitted.
No motor transport operator or non-industry stakeholder applicant shall make any reference to being a PIC Member or PIC Applicant, until such time as the Advisory Council has granted full membership and the applicant has been notified in writing that their membership in PIC has been approved.

. Carrier Application

Where the applicant is a motor transport operator, the PIC Director will ensure that the company:

1. Is not on monitoring by Alberta Infrastructure and Transportation; and
    
2. Has successfully passed an NSC audit within the last two years or, if a satisfactory rating was not obtained on the audit, has an action plan in place to rectify deficiencies and attain a satisfactory rating on the audit; and
    
3. Has successfully passed a COR audit by an external auditor within the last two years or, if a satisfactory rating was not obtained on the audit, has an action plan in place to rectify deficiencies and attain a satisfactory rating on the audit.

When the above conditions have been satisfied, the PIC Director will grant “PIC Applicant” status to the company. The PIC Director will then:

1. Provide a thorough PIC orientation to the operator; and
    
2. Verify whether the company has met the Measurement Benchmarks (as described in Section 6.0); and
    
3. Prepare the company to achieve a successful rating on the PIC Audit.

. Entry Interview

The purpose of the Entry Interview is to confirm that PIC applicants have necessary policies and procedures in place that meet PIC standards. The interview is not intended to be a full audit of a carrier’s compliance to PIC standards, rather review to see if the carrier is prepared to enter the PIC program.

When the applicant has satisfied the above requirements and is deemed by the PIC Director to be capable of maintaining PIC standards, the PIC Director will then provide an “Application for Membership” form and assist the applicant to fully and properly complete the application form. As part of this process, the PIC Director will assist the applicant to identify the appropriate industry segment to which the carrier will be assigned.


. Admission Committee

The PIC Director will submit the completed Application for Membership form, the measurement scores, the audit results, all other necessary documentation, and a declaration by the carrier verifying its commitment to PIC principles, to the Membership Admission Committee, which will assess the application.

If the Membership Admission Committee determines, from the evidence presented to it, that the carrier fully satisfies PIC principles and meets PIC standards, it will recommend to the PIC Advisory Council that the company be granted membership as an Ordinary Member of PIC. The Advisory Council will consider the documentation and recommendation brought forward by the Membership Admission Committee. If/when the PIC Advisory Council grants membership, the company may then present itself as a PIC member.

If the applicant falls short of the PIC benchmarks and/or is otherwise deemed to be incapable of maintaining the PIC benchmarks, the PIC Director will assist the applicant in securing the necessary resources to attain and maintain PIC benchmarks.

An applicant shall have the right to appeal a decision by the PIC Director, the Membership Admission Committee, or the Advisory Council that the applicant does not qualify for PIC membership.

A Membership Admission Committee will be comprised of three persons:

 - One (1) member of the Advisory Council, who will serve as Chair of the Committee; and
 - Two (2) others who may/may not be members of the Advisory Council.

No member of a Membership Admission Committee will have any conflict of interest with the applicant. The PIC Director will provide administrative assistance to the Committee(s).

The Committee will assess the application, document its deliberations and make a recommendation to the PIC Advisory Council whether to grant/not grant membership to the applicant. On receiving the Membership Admission Committee’s recommendation, the Advisory Council will deliberate and vote on the application.

In the event that an applicant is denied membership, the Advisory Council will provide a rationale for its decision, including the remedies that the applicant must undertake before re-submitting an application. The PIC Director will assist the applicant to implement the recommended remedies.


. Appeal Process

An applicant that is denied membership may provide notice of intent to appeal the decision of the Advisory Council within 60 days of receiving notification of the denial. The Advisory Council must then convene a hearing within 90 days of receiving the applicant’s appeal notification. The Advisory Council will receive statements from the applicant and the Membership Admission Committee during the hearing. The Advisory Council must provide its properly documented decision to the applicant within 60 days of the hearing. The member of the Advisory Council who served on the Membership Admission Committee must stand down from all proceedings related to this appeal.

The decision rendered on appeal to the Advisory Council is not subject to further appeal. However, an applicant may re-submit an Application for Membership one year after the date the applicant’s initial application was submitted to the Advisory Council.


. Membership Obligation

The members of PIC are expected to make every effort to uphold and abide by PIC Principles and consistently meet PIC safety benchmarks. Members are also expected to report their safety results in the defined format, in a timely manner and for the required reporting period.

Members that maintain PIC safety benchmarks will be permitted to report quarterly, as advised by the PIC Director. Members that fall below PIC benchmarks will be expected to report monthly.

All Members will be expected to engage in regular COR and PIC self-audits and to have an external audit completed every three years. Self- and external audit results are to be reported to the PIC Director.

It is recognized that Members may periodically fail to maintain PIC benchmarks. Such instances should be brought to the immediate attention of the PIC Director.

Members that fail to maintain the established benchmarks will be expected to develop and implement a remedial action plan in an expeditious manner. Such members will also be expected to report safety results monthly.

Members that fail to remedy the safety deficiencies in a satisfactory and timely manner will be referred for Performance Review.

Member motor carriers that cycle between satisfactory and unsatisfactory safety performance will also be referred for Performance Review.


. Performance Review

Any PIC member failing to maintain PIC benchmarks is to be held accountable and will be subject to peer review of their safety management systems. It is the hope of PIC that such members will respond promptly to a performance review and expeditiously restore the expected standards.

However, in the event that a member fails to regain the expected standards in a reasonable period of time, the PIC Director will recommend that the Advisory Council implement a Performance Review process that, in the extreme, may result in the revocation of PIC membership.