Load securement in Canada: what National Safety Code Standard 10 and the Alberta and British Columbia regulations say

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. Cargo securement in Canada is provincial law built on a national standard, so this page reads the national body that publishes the standard and two provinces that adopt it. The other provinces and territories are not covered here. For the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, read load securement in the United States, load securement in Great Britain and load restraint in Australia.

At a glance

Place	Where the rule sits	Weight line
National	National Safety Code Standard 10, Cargo Securement, published by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators	Set by each province
Alberta	Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation, Alberta Regulation 121/2009, section 17	Registered or actual weight over 4,500 kilograms, not a bus
British Columbia	Motor Vehicle Act Regulations, B.C. Reg. 26/58, Division 35	Licensed gross vehicle weight over 5,000 kilograms for the Standard

The national standard

The Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators lists Standard 10, Cargo Securement, among the 16 standards of the National Safety Code. It describes the code as minimum performance standards covering the safe running of passenger and commercial vehicles, says every province and territory builds its commercial vehicle rules on it, and says each standard is either adopted by reference in a jurisdiction's regulation or reflected in that jurisdiction's own laws. The same page lists guidance and interpretations for cargo securement, including a general document dated May 2016 and one on dressed lumber and similar building materials on flatbed trucks and trailers dated February 2011. See the Council's National Safety Code page.

Alberta

The Alberta Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation, in the copy dated September 14, 2026 with amendments up to Alberta Regulation 225/2026, adopts NSC Standard 10 as dated June 2013, section 1 and Parts 1 to 4, as amended from time to time. Section 17 defines a commercial vehicle for this purpose as a commercial vehicle or combination registered for a gross weight of more than, or weighing more than, 4,500 kilograms that is not a bus. Subsection 17(3) says a carrier or owner may not permit a driver to operate, and a driver may not operate, such a vehicle when the cargo is not contained, immobilized or secured under NSC Standard 10 for that type of vehicle. Subsection 17(4) adds that cargo must be contained, immobilized or secured so that it cannot leak, spill, blow off, fall from, fall through or otherwise be dislodged, or shift enough to affect the vehicle's stability or manoeuvrability. Subsection 17(5) says the Standard does not apply to a vehicle registered as a Class 2 commercial vehicle under section 77 of the Operator Licensing and Vehicle Control Regulation (Alberta Regulation 320/2002), or to a vehicle operated under contract with a farmer to haul bales of feed or bedding, carrying only those bales within 50 kilometres of the load's place of origin, under the speed and highway conditions the subsection sets. See the Alberta Commercial Vehicle Safety Regulation.

British Columbia

Division 35 of the Motor Vehicle Act Regulations, in the consolidation last amended September 30, 2026 by B.C. Reg. 154/2026, covers cargo securement. Section 35.02 adopts NSC Standard 10 as recommended by the Canadian Council of Motor Transport Administrators on September 8, 2004, as amended from time to time, and deems it a regulation under the Act. It says the Standard applies only to a vehicle transporting cargo on a highway and exceeding a licensed gross vehicle weight of 5,000 kilograms. Section 35.04 says vehicles must be equipped, and cargo contained, immobilized or secured, under the Division and the Standard so that it cannot leak, spill, blow off, fall from, fall through or otherwise be dislodged, or shift in a way that affects stability or manoeuvrability. Section 35.03 puts the duty on both the carrier and the person driving, and on drivers of vehicles that are not commercial or business vehicles.

Section 35.05 adds rules for logging trucks and trucks with a flat load deck carrying logs or poles longer than 2.6 metres along the vehicle, including a limit of 5 millimetres on bunk lash with a fully loaded pole trailer. Section 35.06 says aggregate material that is likely to bounce, blow or drop from the vehicle must be covered in a way that prevents it, with a cover securely and tightly fastened. Section 35.07 covers cargo in contact with a front end structure, which must carry the maker's marking of rated capacity or a letter certifying it. Section 35.08 says a peace officer with reasonable and probable grounds to believe a vehicle's cargo is unsafe because of the method of securement may order the driver to stop and secure the cargo before proceeding, and a person must comply. Division 35 does not apply to a commercial vehicle engaged in highway construction, other than a paving project in a posted construction zone, or to an implement of husbandry. See the British Columbia Motor Vehicle Act Regulations, Division 35.

What these sources do not give

None of the pages read gives a securement rule for brush, wood or chips on a tree-service truck by name, and none states a fine. The text of Standard 10 itself was not copied here. Ontario, Quebec and the other provinces and territories adopt the standard under their own laws and are not described on this page.