Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System - WHMIS

• The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) is Canadian legislation covering the use of hazardous materials in the workplace. This includes assessment, signage, labeling, material safety data sheets and worker training. WHMIS closely parallels the U.S. OSHA Hazard Communication Standard.
• Do not confuse this with HMIS®, a hazard/label system of the American Coatings Association (formerly called the National Paint and Coatings Association).

Most of the requirements of WHMIS are incorporated into Canada's Hazardous Products Act and Controlled Products Regulations which are administered by Health Canada. Certain provincial or territorial laws may also apply (see the first link under Further Reading). Enforcement of WHMIS is performed by the Labour Branch of Human Resources Development Canada or the provincial/territorial OHS agencies.

Within the WHMIS framework, chemical products with proprietary formulations or trade secret hazardousingredients must be registered under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act before thay can be sold or distributed in Canada. Registration numbers under this Act are issued by the Hazardous Materials Information Review Commission (HMIRC). HMIRC is an independent government administrative law agency rather than being directly a part of Health Canada.

Two good comprehensive sources of information about WHMIS are the The Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (CCOHS) and the Health Canada's Official National Site for WHMIS.

The WHIMS Classification Scheme (See CCOHS info)

WHMIS has six broad hazard classifications:
• Class A - Compressed Gas
• Class B - Flammable and Combustible Material
  • Division 1: Flammable Gas
  • Division 2: Flammable Liquid
  • Division 3: Combustible Liquid
  • Division 4: Flammable Solid
  • Division 5: Flammable Aerosol
  • Division 6: Reactive Flammable Material
• Class C - Oxidizing Material
• Class D - Poisonous and Infectious Material
  • Division 1: Materials causing immediate and serious toxic effects
    • Subdivision A: Very toxic material
    • Subdivision: Toxic material
  • Division 2: Materials causing other toxic effects
    • Subdivision A: Very toxic material
    • Subdivision B: Toxic material
  • Division 3: Biohazardous Infection Material
• Class E - Corrosive material
• Class F - Dangerously reactive material
Canada is working on implementing the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), which will result in changes to the classification of chemicals, labeling, and the content of MSDS's. Health Canada has a web page discussing the implementation of GHS in Canada. It will likely be several years before Canada begins phasing in the GHS but you should expect to start seeing sheets and labels incorporating the GHS'sHazard Statements and Precautionary Statements in the near future.

MSDS Relevance

All materials covered by WHMIS are required to have an MSDS. This means that every worker must have an MSDS for each hazardous substance and be trained in working with that material.A WHMIS regulation, the Controlled Products Regulations (CPR), prescribes what information must be on labels and MSDS's. You can find the 9 required parts as well as information on how to write an MSDS on this CCOHS web page. There is no master list of items subject to the CPR. You can find out how to determine if a material is subject to CPR (PDF file) at the Sask Labour site.