A review of provincial safety records of garbage trucks used by the City of Winnipeg's main contractor is revealing troubling questions about the condition of the vehicles.

A CBC News investigation into trucks used by BFI Canada Inc. has shown a number of them either failed provincial safety inspections or had to be taken off the road for immediate repairs.

'When we inspected the vehicles at the roadside or at the facility, they failed roughly 60 per cent of the time.'—Darren Christle, Manitoba Transport

Provincial records show BFI operates 86 garbage trucks in Winnipeg.

In the last two years, the records show trucks failed inspections 27 times. And in 56 cases, inspections showed the trucks were in such poor condition that they needed to be pulled out of service immediately.

Because of this, BFI is the only major garbage hauler in the city that has only a conditional licence to operate, a provision that's been in effect for at least a full year.

Manitoba Transport's Darren Christle said BFI's conditional licence to operate means the company failed a safety audit. (CBC)The safety audit that BFI failed is "not subjective, it's based on ordinal [ordered] measurements," said Darren Christle, executive director of Manitoba Transport's motor carrier division.

"There was some type of issue that was determined that we needed to provide some direction or some attention towards," he said.

"When we inspected the vehicles at the roadside or at the facility, they failed roughly 60 per cent of the time. They were taken out of service for some kind of major defect," Christle said.

Mechanics on payroll

BFI's trucks are subject to provincial requirements to have safety inspections on a regular basis.

BFI said it takes safety very seriously, but otherwise refused comment for this story. (CBC)However, CBC News learned the garage that performs the safety inspections is operated by BFI and the mechanics who do them are employees of the company.

BFI said in an emailed response to requests for information that the company takes safety seriously, but wouldn't discuss internal operations.

The city manager of solid waste services, Darryl Drohomerski, said BFI is satisfying all of its contractual requirements.

"Yes they are, absolutely," Drohomerski said. "If we can get them to do better — you know, work with them to do better on it — then certainly that's the expectation," he said.

Beyond its safety issues, BFI is facing 18 charges under the Highway Traffic Act.

Brakes faulty, mother of crash victim alleges

The mother of a Winnipeg man seriously injured after the van he was in was T-boned by a BFI truck two years ago said police showed her an collision report that stated problems existed with the garbage truck's brakes.

BFI was ticketed under the HTA for driving without the required equipment in connection with the April 11, 2008, crash on Regent Avenue at Owen Street.

Tammy Kehler's son, Christopher, suffered a brain injury from which he's still trying to recover. He spent a year in hospital recovering.

The friend of Kehler's who was driving the van is facing criminal charges. BFI's driver was not charged, but the company was fined $144 for an offence under the HTA.

Still, Kehler said she's left wondering if the damage caused by the crash could have been less.

"We were just sick. We were just really ill," she said upon reading the inspection report.

"Because if you have the stopping capabilities, we believe, as regular people, that there would have been an impact but it wouldn't have been as severe as it was."

With files from the CBC's Alex Freedman and Vera-Lynn Kubinec