HR glossary · Safety, conduct and hours

WHMIS

Canada's system for labelling hazardous products, giving safety data sheets and training workers who use them. It applies to most workplaces.

Also called: Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, WHMIS 2015

What WHMIS means

WHMIS stands for the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System. It is Canada's system for telling workers about hazardous products at work: chemicals, cleaners, fuels, solvents, compressed gases and similar products. It has three parts: labels on containers, safety data sheets (SDSs) that give detailed information about each product, and worker education and training.

WHMIS is not only for factories and labs. A hair salon with bleach and colour developer, a restaurant with oven cleaner and degreaser, a garage with brake cleaner and a cleaning company with concentrated disinfectant all have hazardous products. If your staff use or work near them, WHMIS likely applies to you.

How it works

Start with an inventory. Walk through the workplace and list every product that has a WHMIS supplier label, with pictograms such as a flame, a skull and crossbones, an exclamation mark or a corroded hand. For each one, get the current safety data sheet from the supplier or manufacturer, and keep the SDSs where workers can reach them during every shift, on paper or electronically.

Check labels. Products from suppliers should arrive with a supplier label. If you pour a product into a spray bottle or another container, that container needs a workplace label with the product name, safe handling information and a reference to the SDS. Unlabelled spray bottles are an easy problem to miss in a small business.

Train your people. Workers who use or might be exposed to hazardous products need general WHMIS education (what the pictograms mean, how to read a label and an SDS) and training specific to your workplace: which products you use, how to store and handle them, what protective equipment to wear, and what to do in a spill or exposure. Keep a record of who was trained and when. Every Canadian jurisdiction requires employers to have a worker education and training program for hazardous products. CCOHS recommends reviewing your WHMIS training program at least once a year, and sooner when work conditions, processes or hazard information change; check whether your province sets its own schedule.

Common mistakes: relying on a generic online course alone without site-specific training, keeping SDSs that are years out of date, storing products in unmarked food or drink containers, and forgetting new products a manager bought at the hardware store.

Is it the same in every province?

WHMIS uses the same labels, pictograms and safety data sheets across Canada, and it is aligned with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). Suppliers' duties are set federally by the Hazardous Products Act and the Hazardous Products Regulations, administered by Health Canada; the 2022 amendments to those regulations gave suppliers a transition period that ended in December 2025. The employer's duties, such as workplace labels, SDS access and training, sit in each province's or territory's health and safety law (or the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated workplaces), so details can differ.

Example: Spray bottles at a cleaning company

Grace runs a residential cleaning company in Halifax with 7 cleaners. Each cleaner fills spray bottles from large jugs of concentrated disinfectant and degreaser at the start of the day.

Grace makes a list of the 9 products she buys and downloads the current SDS for each into a shared folder the cleaners can open on their phones. She prints workplace labels for every spray bottle with the product name, handling instructions and a note to see the SDS. She then runs a 45-minute session at the shop on her actual products, gloves and what to do if a product splashes in someone's eyes, and records who attended.

Onboarding checklists in Staffkin

Put WHMIS training and an SDS walk-through on your Staffkin onboarding checklist so it is done before a new hire handles any product.

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Questions about WHMIS

Does WHMIS apply to household cleaning products?

It can. Some consumer products are handled differently from workplace products, but if your staff use hazardous products as part of their work, you still need to tell them about the hazards and train them. Check with your provincial safety regulator.

How often do workers need WHMIS training?

Before they work with hazardous products, when new products come in, and when work conditions change. CCOHS recommends reviewing your training program at least once a year; check whether your province sets a schedule, and keep a record of each session.

Is an online WHMIS course enough?

Usually not on its own. Generic courses cover the basics, but you also need training on the specific products and procedures in your workplace.

Official sources

General information for Canadian employers, not legal advice. Rules differ by province and territory and change over time, so check with your provincial employment standards office (or the federal Labour Program if you are federally regulated) before you rely on it. See employment standards by province.

Checked against official sources on 5 November 2026.