WHMIS is implemented by complementary federal, provincial and territorial legislation and regulations. The main purpose of the federal WHMIS legislation is to require suppliers of hazardous products intended for use, handling or storage in a workplace to classify those products and provide health and safety information about them to their customers. The main purpose of the provincial and territorial WHMIS legislation is to require employers to obtain health and safety information about hazardous products from their suppliers, and to use that information to train their workers. In addition, confidential business information is protected under WHMIS.

Federal WHMIS legislation

Federal WHMIS legislation is administered by Health Canada and includes:

  1. The Hazardous Products Act (HPA) requires a supplier who sells or imports a hazardous product intended for use, handling or storage in a workplace in Canada to provide a label and safety data sheet to the purchaser of the product.
  2. The Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR) set out the criteria a supplier must use to assess and classify a product into prescribed hazard classes and categories (e.g. flammable liquid, skin irritant, etc.); and, set out in detail the information a supplier is required to put on a label and a safety data sheet.
  3. The Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (HMIRA) provides for the protection of confidential business information and defines the type of information that a supplier or employer may claim an exemption from disclosing on a label or safety data sheet. It assigns to Health Canada the responsibility for determining if a claim for exemption from disclosing confidential business information is valid.
  4. The Hazardous Materials Information Review Regulations (HMIRR) set out the criteria that Health Canada must use when assessing the validity of a claim for exemption, and also set out the information that must be contained in a claim for exemption from disclosing confidential business information.

Under WHMIS 2015, there are key changes to the federal legislation:

  • Controlled Products are now called Hazardous Products.
  • New rules and criteria for classifying hazardous chemicals improve the supplier's ability to indicate the severity of hazards.
  • There are different hazard classes/categories and more of them.
  • Supplier label requirements include new pictograms for hazard classes and prescribed hazard statements and signal words.
  • Safety data sheets have a new, standardized 16-section format with prescribed information elements.
  • Safety data sheets are required to be updated on an ongoing basis, as new information about a product becomes available. There is no longer a requirement to update a safety data sheet every three years.

Ontario's WHMIS legislation

In Ontario, WHMIS requirements are in:

  1. The Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) generally requires employers to ensure hazardous products are identified, to obtain safety data sheets and make them available in the workplace and to provide instruction and training to workers. The OHSA also provides for the protection of confidential business information according to procedures set out in the federal HMIRA.
  2. The Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Regulation (R.R.O. 1990, Regulation 860) sets out in detail the employer's duties respecting labels and safety data sheets for hazardous products and prescribes the content and delivery of worker education programs. The regulation also sets out the types of confidential business information the employer may withhold from a label or safety data sheet.

Ontario's WHMIS legislation applies to all workplaces covered by the Occupational Health and Safety Act, with the exception of farms.

Enforcing WHMIS legislation

In Ontario, the Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development is responsible for the enforcement of both the federal and provincial WHMIS legislation. This is done so that employers and suppliers will not be subject to inspections by both federal and provincial inspectors. It means that Ministry of Labour, Training and Skills Development inspectors monitor compliance with the HPA, HPR, the OHSA and the WHMIS Regulation.

The OHSA and WHMIS Regulation do not apply to federally regulated workplaces such as banks, post offices and airports in Ontario. Instead, certain sections of the Canada Labour Code and the Canada Occupational Health and Safety Regulations implement WHMIS in federal workplaces and are enforced by inspectors of the federal government's labour program. Those pieces of legislation are not covered in this guide.

WHMIS and the transportation of dangerous goods

In general, WHMIS requirements apply to hazardous products inside a workplace. Products being shipped to and from workplaces are covered by transportation of dangerous goods (TDG) legislation. No overlap is intended. The WHMIS Regulation specifically exempts a hazardous product that is being transported and handled under federal or provincial TDG legislation.

The federal Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 defines handling as loading, unloading, packing or unpacking dangerous goods in a means of containment for the purposes of, in the course of or following transportation and includes storing them in the course of transportation. Handling does not include use of a hazardous product.

It can be difficult to determine which requirements apply — WHMIS or TDG — when a hazardous product is in a warehouse. If a hazardous product is in temporary storage in a distribution warehouse, namely a warehouse operating as a trans-shipment point, and is not modified in any way at that warehouse, TDG requirements would apply. In this case, the goods are being stored for transport and are not handled except to be loaded onto a vehicle for removal from the warehouse.

If a hazardous product in a warehouse is repackaged (assembled, labelled or relabelled), processed or used, WHMIS requirements may apply.