WHMIS, labels and safety data sheets

WHMIS (the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) is Canada's hazard communication system for hazardous products at work. It's aligned with the international Globally Harmonized System (GHS). WHMIS has three main parts: labels, safety data sheets (SDSs) and worker education and training.

Labels

There are two main kinds of WHMIS label:

• Supplier labels come on the product. They must be in English and French and include the product identifier, the initial supplier identifier, pictograms, a signal word, hazard statements, precautionary statements and any required supplemental information.
• Workplace labels are needed when a product is made at the workplace and used there, poured (decanted) into another container, or when a supplier label is lost or can't be read. They include the product identifier, safe handling information and a reference to the SDS if one is available.

WHMIS uses only two signal words: “Danger” for high-risk hazards and “Warning” for less severe ones. Pictograms are hazard symbols inside a red border shaped like a square set on one of its points.

Safety data sheets

An SDS gives detailed information about a hazardous product in 16 sections with set headings in a set order, covering things like hazards, first aid, firefighting, handling and storage, and exposure controls and PPE. Section 16 shows the date it was last revised. Know where the SDSs are kept at your workplace.

Education and training

WHMIS education is the general part: how WHMIS works, hazard classes, labels and SDSs. Training is site- and job-specific: your workplace's procedures for storing, handling, using and disposing of products, and for spills and emergencies. Your employer is responsible for both. If you change employers, the new employer must make sure you get training specific to that workplace. Exact requirements are set by each province and territory.