WHMIS—Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System

 

WHMIS is a hazard communication system used in Canada. It affects suppliers, importers, and distributors of potentially hazardous materials used at worksites, as well as the employers and workers who use those materials. WHMIS is implemented through coordinated federal, provincial, and territorial legislation.

 

WHMIS was developed to ensure that workers receive adequate hazard information about chemicals that are used at their worksite. The system requires suppliers of controlled products to provide specified hazard information to worksites. The employers must then provide that hazard information to the workers.

 

Education has worked with the Ministry of Labour to understand the implications of the recent changes to the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) for school authorities.

 

A three-year transition period will allow suppliers and employers to implement the changes. The training of workers must be site-specific and deal with specific products and procedures used in the workplace.

 

Complete information about the changes is available from  WHMIS.org: Canada's National WHMIS Portal. Documents to assist with the transition are available on the CTS Updates page.

 

For more information, refer to WHMIS 2015: Information for Workers and WHMIS 2015: Information for Employers provided by Work Safe Alberta.