Canada Revises Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)

The deadline for employers to comply with the updated WHMIS standards, released in 2015, was December 1, 2018. ISN is making several updates to comply including:

1. Updating Controlled Products terminology to Hazardous Products
2. Safety Data Sheets (SDS): Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) have been updated to SDS. SDS now contain 16 sections that only require updating when new information becomes available.
3. Hazard Communication: Products are labelled as Groups, Classes or Categories and split into Physical and Health Hazards, and then assigned a Category Hazard number.
4. Hazard Symbols: Includes 10 hazard pictograms, opposed to 8.

In 2015, Canada’s Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS), the national hazard communication standard, was updated to incorporate the Global Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). GHS provides consistency between countries when communicating product information through labels, safety data sheets and pictograms.

Chat with ISN if you have questions regarding ISNetworld. For more information on the GHS implementation in Canada, please visit:

https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/environmental-workplace-health/occupational-health-safety/workplace-hazardous-materials-information-system.html

http://whmis.org/