WHMIS Training & Education: What’s the Difference?

Alberta Bill 30 makes a distinction between education and training as does WHMIS 2015. Chemscape will breakdown for you what the distinction is between both and how you can develop your WHMIS program accordingly.

WHMIS Education

• Education can be a general knowledge on WHMIS 2015, including: 
  • A knowledge of how WHMIS works.
  • Understand the roles and responsibilities under WHMIS.
  • Know the difference between physical and health hazards classifications.
  • Understand the hazard pictograms.
  • Know what a supplier label and workplace label is.
  • Understand a Safety Data Sheet and what information about the product you can find on it.
• Education also covers knowledge on the hazards of the products you work with everyday. This includes being able to answer the 5 Fundamental Questions on working safely with a hazardous product:
  • What is the product?
  • What are the hazards of the product?
  • How do you work safely with it?
  • What do you do in an emergency?
  • Where do you find more information on the product?

WHMIS Training

• Training refers to the site- and job-specific information to employees that will cover your workplace's procedures for storage, handling, use, disposal, emergencies, spills, and what to do in unusual situations.
  • Demonstrate the procedures required for safe use, handling and disposal of a hazardous product.
  • Demonstrate the procedures required when the product is contained; for example, in a pipe, piping system, vessel, tank car, etc.
  • Demonstrate the procedure to follow if the hazardous product may be present in the air and a worker may be exposed.          
  • Demonstrate the procedures that must be followed in an emergency that involves the hazardous product.

Action: Visit our resources page to download our comprehensive WHMIS 2015 implementation checklist. Remember, employers need to have their workers trained on WHMIS 2015 by Dec 1, 2019.