GHS Implementation with WHMIS 2015

Understanding the Changes to WHMIS 2015 and the Implementation of Globally Harmonized Systems (GHS) in Canada

After many years of discussion Canada is aligning the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) with the international standard of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The old WHMIS will be known as WHMIS 1988 and the updated WHMIS with GHS will be called WHMIS 2015. 

 The Timeline of the Transition to WHMIS 2015

The final Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR) were published on February 11, 2015 in the Canada Gazette, Part II. The provinces across Canada are rolling out their WHMIS legislation. Employers will need to be fully transitioned to WHMIS 2015 by Dec. 1, 2018.

What do I need to do as an employer to be compliant with WHMIS 2015?

Under WHMIS 2015, employers will continue to:

• Educate and train workers on the hazards and safe use of products
• Ensure that hazardous products (formerly Controlled Products) are properly labelled
• Prepare workplace labels and safety data sheets (SDSs formerly MSDSs) as necessary
• Provide access for workers to up-to-date SDSs and labels

How GHS has changed WHMIS 2015:

GHS has the following significant changes that are different to WHMIS 2015:

• Controlled Products are now called Hazardous Products
• Different Hazard Classes and more of them.
• Different Classification of Chemicals New Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) with 16-sections
• No requirement to update SDSs every 3 years (some provinces like BC under WHMIS 2015 require employers to check with the supplier that they have the most current SDS for the product).
• New Supplier Labels
• New Pictograms Click to see a PDF of the new WHMIS 2015 pictograms.

Classification under WHMIS

Most of the hazard classes in WHMIS 2015 are common to GHS; this means they will be used worldwide with other countries that have adopted GHS. There are a few classes that are specific to WHMIS 2015 like the biohazardous infectious materials symbol and class that signifies organisms or toxins that cause disease in people or animals (i.e HIV, Hepatitis, Salmonella).  

WHMIS 2015 classifies by assigning a product to a group and then to a category and finally a class. WHMIS 2015 has two main groups of hazards: the physical hazards group and the health hazards group. There is also a third GHS group called the Environmental Hazards Group that was not adopted by Canada or the USA; those countries use other regulations for the environment.  A product can have more than one hazard group classification.  

Physical Hazards Group: chemicals in this hazard group present significant physical danger.  Products are classified based on their physical state (solid, liquid, gas) and physical properties (explosive, flammable, corrosive).  
 
Health hazard Group: chemicals in this hazard group present health danger either in the short term or long term.  

Example: Methanol Classification

Health Hazard

Physical Hazard

WHMIS 2015 and the GHS Hazard Pictograms

Chemscape WHMIS Online Training Course

WHMIS 2015 with GHS is a comprehensive online course authored by Chemscape that covers all the essential elements of the new WHMIS 2015 with GHS.  Contact us Toll Free at 1-855-720-6737 or by email sales@chemscape.com to learn more about our GHS Transition Solutions and getting your workers WHMIS and GHS certified.

"When I reviewed Chemscape's course it was significantly better than our current provider's. It is important to have people engaged in their chemical handling training. It is important stuff! Chemscape's course is interactive, keeps the student engaged with some humour and has voice and written text so it can be learnt by a variety of learning styles."  Robert Whitten, Port of Halifax