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Part 5 Chemical Agents and Biological Agents

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Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS)

5.3 Application

(1) Sections 5.3 to 5.19 (the WHMIS Requirements) apply to employers and workers with respect to controlled products used, stored or handled at a workplace, except as provided in subsections (2) to (4).

(2) The provisions concerning a supplier label and MSDS do not apply if the controlled product is

(a) an explosive within the meaning of the Explosives Act (Canada),

(b) a cosmetic, device, drug or food within the meaning of the Food and Drugs Act (Canada),

(d) a prescribed substance within the meaning of the Atomic Energy Control Act (Canada) or any successor legislation, or

(e) a product, material or substance packaged as a consumer product and in quantities normally used by the consuming public.

(3) The provisions do not apply if the controlled product is

(a) wood or a product made of wood,

(b) tobacco or a product made of tobacco,

(d) being transported or handled pursuant to the requirements of the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 (Canada) or the Transport of Dangerous Goods Act.

(4) The provisions do not apply to a hazardous waste, except that the employer must ensure the safe storage and handling of a hazardous waste generated at the workplace through the combination of worker education and the information required by this Regulation.

Note: For products partially or completely exempted from WHMIS by subsections (2) to (4), the general information requirements of section 5.2 must be met. Also, information requirements are specified elsewhere for particular groups of substances, for example, hazardous wastes in sections 5.76 to 5.81; pesticides in Part 6 (Substance Specific Requirements), and explosives in Part 21 (Blasting Operations).

5.4 Prohibition

(1) An employer must ensure that a controlled product is not used, stored or handled in a workplace unless all the applicable WHMIS Requirements concerning labels, identifiers, MSDSs and worker education and training are complied with, except as provided in subsection (2).

(2) An employer may store a controlled product in a workplace while actively seeking information required by subsection (1).

5.5 WHMIS program

If controlled products are used in the workplace the employer, in consultation with the joint committee or worker health and safety representative, as applicable, must establish and maintain an effective WHMIS program, as part of the overall workplace health and safety program, which

(a) addresses applicable WHMIS Requirements including education and training, and

(b) is reviewed at least annually, or more frequently if required by a change in work conditions or available hazard information.

5.6 Worker education

(1) An employer must ensure that general WHMIS education, as it pertains to the workplace, is provided to workers on the

(a) elements of the WHMIS program,

(b) major hazards of the controlled products in use in the workplace,

(d) content required on labels and MSDSs, and the significance of this information.

(2) The employer must ensure that a worker who works with or in proximity to a controlled product received from a supplier has access to all hazard information received from the supplier concerning that controlled product as well as any further hazard information of which the employer is aware or ought to be aware concerning the use, storage and handling of that product.

(3) If a controlled product is produced in a workplace, the employer must ensure that a worker who works with or in proximity to that controlled product has access to all hazard information of which the employer is aware or ought to be aware concerning that product and its use, storage and handling.

5.7 Worker training

(1) An employer must ensure that a worker who works with or in proximity to a controlled product is instructed in

(a) procedures for the safe use, storage, handling and disposal of the controlled product,

(b) the safe use, storage, handling and disposal of a controlled product contained or transferred in

(i) a pipe or a piping system including valves,

(ii) a process or reaction vessel, or

(iii) a tank car, tank truck, ore car, conveyor belt or similar conveyance,

(d) procedures to be followed in case of an emergency involving a controlled product.

(2) Instruction required by subsection (1) must be specific to the workplace and cover the safe work procedures and emergency response procedures to be used in the workplace.

Note: Two checklists to assist with the implementation of sections 5.5 to 5.7 have been issued by the national WHMIS Current Issues Committee. They are provided in the WorkSafeBC publication WHMIS at Work. [PDF 2 M]

The Implementation Plan Checklist addresses items under topics of: responsibilities, inventory, labelling/MSDSs, hazard evaluation, workplace controls, emergency procedures, education/training and program evaluation.
The Education and Training Checklist addresses program development, instruction and follow-up.

5.8 Supplier label

(1) An employer must ensure that the container of a controlled product or a controlled product received at a workplace is labelled with a supplier label.

(2) Subject to sections 5.8(3) and 5.18, as long as any amount of a controlled product remains in a workplace in the container in which it was received from the supplier, an employer must not remove, deface, modify or alter the supplier label.

(3) If a label applied to a controlled product or a container of a controlled product becomes illegible or is accidentally removed from the controlled product or the container, the employer must replace the label with either a supplier label or a workplace label.

(4) An employer who has received a controlled product in a multicontainer shipment where the individual containers have not been labelled by the supplier must apply to each container a label that meets the requirements of the Controlled Products Regulations (Canada).

(5) If a controlled product imported under section 23 of the Controlled Products Regulations (Canada) is received at the workplace without the supplier label, the employer must apply a label that meets the requirements of that regulation.

(6) An employer who has received a controlled product transported as a bulk shipment must

(a) apply a supplier label to the container of the controlled product or to the controlled product at the workplace, or

(b) where, pursuant to section 15 of the Controlled Products Regulations (Canada) the supplier is not required to label a controlled product transported as a bulk shipment, an employer must apply a workplace label to the container of the controlled product or to the controlled product at the workplace.

5.9 Workplace label for employer-produced products

(1) If an employer produces a controlled product at a workplace, the employer must ensure that a workplace label is applied to the controlled product or the container of the controlled product.

(2) For purposes of subsection (1), "produces" does not include the escape of a controlled product from equipment or from another product.

(3) Subsection (1) does not apply when the controlled product is in a container that is intended to contain the controlled product for sale or distribution and the container is or is about to be appropriately labelled.

5.10 Workplace label for decanted products

(1) If a controlled product in a workplace is in a container other than the container in which it was received from a supplier, the employer must ensure that the container has a workplace label applied to it.

(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a portable container that is filled directly from a container that has a supplier label or workplace label applied to it

(a) if the controlled product

(i) is under the control of and is used exclusively by the worker who filled the portable container,

(ii) is used only during the shift in which the portable container was filled, and

(iii) the content of the container is clearly identified, or

(b) if all of the controlled product is required for immediate use.

5.11 Piping systems and vessels

If a controlled product in a workplace is contained or transferred in

(a) a pipe, or piping system including valves,

(b) a process or reaction vessel, or

the employer must ensure the safe use, storage and handling of the controlled product through worker education and the use of labels, placards, or colour coding or any other mode of identification.

5.12 Placard identifiers

If the controlled product is not in a container or is in a container in a form intended for export, the employer may fulfill the labelling requirements under sections 5.8 to 5.10 by posting a placard which

(a) discloses the information required for a workplace label, and

(b) is of a size and in locations so that the information is conspicuous and clearly legible to workers.

5.13 Laboratory label

(1) A label for a container of a controlled product that originates from a laboratory supply house and is packaged in quantities of less than 10 kg (22 lbs) for each container and that is intended for use in a laboratory must disclose

(a) a product identifier,

(b) where an MSDS is available, a statement indicating that fact, and

(2) The employer must ensure that the contents of a container of a controlled product are clearly identified on the container if

(a) the container is not the container in which the controlled product was received from the supplier, and

(b) the employer intends to use the controlled product, or it is, in the normal course of business, used, exclusively in a laboratory.

(3) The employer must ensure that a controlled product undergoing analysis, tests or evaluations in a laboratory is clearly identified.

5.14 Supplier MSDS

(1) An employer who acquires a controlled product for use at a workplace must obtain a supplier MSDS for that controlled product if the supplier is required to prepare an MSDS.

(2) When a supplier MSDS obtained under subsection (1) for a controlled product is 3 years old, the employer must, if possible, obtain from the supplier an up-to-date supplier MSDS for the controlled product if any of the product remains in the workplace.

(3) If the employer is unable to obtain an MSDS as required by subsection (2), the employer must add to the existing supplier MSDS any new hazard information of which the employer is aware or ought reasonably to be aware, applicable to that controlled product on the basis of the ingredients disclosed in that document.

(4) The employer may provide at a workplace an MSDS in a format different from the format provided by the supplier or containing additional hazard information if the MSDS provided by the employer

(a) subject to section 5.18, contains at least the content of the supplier MSDS, and

(b) the supplier MSDS is available at the workplace and the MSDS provided by the employer indicates that fact.

5.15 Employer MSDS

(1) If an employer produces a controlled product in the workplace, the employer must prepare an MSDS for the product which discloses, subject to section 5.18, the information required under the Controlled Products Regulations (Canada).

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), "produces" does not include the escape of a controlled product from equipment or from another product nor does it include intermediate products undergoing reaction within a reaction or process vessel.

(3) The employer must update the MSDS referred to in subsection (1)

(a) as soon as practicable after new hazard information becomes available to the employer, and

(b) at least every 3 years.

Note: The WorkSafeBC publication Suppliers' Guide to WHMIS: Preparing Compliant Material Safety Data Sheets and Labels can assist employers and suppliers in meeting the requirements of sections 5.14 and 5.15. It provides information on how to classify products and how to prepare and review MSDSs and supplier labels.

[Note updated October 10, 2001.]

5.16 Availability of an MSDS

(1) An employer must ensure that a copy of an MSDS required by sections 5.14 or 5.15 is made readily available

(a) at the workplace to workers who may be exposed to the controlled product, and

(b) to the joint committee or to the worker health and safety representative, as applicable.

(2) If an employer is required by subsection (1) to make an MSDS readily available, it may be made available on a computer system if the employer

(a) takes all reasonable steps to keep the system in active working order,

(b) makes the MSDS readily available on the request of a worker, and

(i) one or more workers working at a workplace where the MSDS is available on a computer terminal, and

(ii) members of the joint committee or the worker health and safety representative, as applicable.

5.17 Deletions from an MSDS

If an employer claims an exemption under section 5.18, the employer may delete the information that is the subject of the claim from the MSDS required by sections 5.14 and 5.15 for the time period in section 5.19(2), but may not delete hazard information.

5.18 Confidential business information

If, under the WHMIS Requirements, an employer must disclose on a label or an MSDS

(a) the chemical identity or concentration of an ingredient of a controlled product,

(b) the name of any toxicological study that identifies an ingredient of a controlled product,

(d) information that could be used to identify a supplier of a controlled product,

the employer may consider such information to be confidential business information and claim an exemption from the requirement to disclose that information.

5.19 Claims under the HMIR Act

(1) A claim under section 5.18 must be made to the commission established under the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (Canada) and must be filed in accordance with the procedures established under that Act and the regulations made under it.

(2) Information that an employer considers to be confidential business information is exempt from disclosure from the time a claim is filed under section 5.18 until the claim is finally determined by the commission and for a period of 3 years after that if the claim is found to be valid.

(3) An employer who makes a claim under section 5.18 must abide by the decisions and orders of the commission.

(4) An appeal from a decision made by the commission under this section may be made under and in accordance with the provisions of the Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (Canada) and any regulations made under that Act.

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WorkSafeBC endeavours to update the online OHS Regulation as soon as possible following any legislative amendments. However, WorkSafeBC does not warrant the accuracy or the completeness of the online OHS Regulation, and neither WorkSafeBC nor its board of directors, employees or agents shall be liable to any person for any loss or damage of any nature, whether arising out of negligence or otherwise, arising from the use of the online OHS Regulation.

Employers are legally obligated to make a copy of the Workers' Compensation Act and the OHS Regulation readily available for review by workers. The circumstances under which WorkSafeBC may consider an employer's providing access to electronic versions of the Act and OHS Regulation to have satisfied this obligation are described in Guideline G-D3-115(2)(f).