ST. JOHN’S, NL – Newfoundland and Labrador workplaces have until Dec. 1 to fully comply with new amendments to the provincial Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) regulations.
The amended WHMIS regulations have been published in the Newfoundland and Labrador Gazette, according to a news release from Service NL today, May 9.
WHMIS, an integrated system of federal, provincial and territorial legislation and regulations, aims to ensure workers and workplaces can identify potentially harmful chemicals and have the information needed to be safe.
“The amendments to the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Regulations will enhance chemical safety and also harmonize our regulations with the federal hazardous products legislation and the WHMIS legislation of other provinces and territories,” Service NL Minister Sherry Gambin-Walsh said.
legislation has been amended across Canada to adopt elements of the internationally used Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS). The new Canadian WHMIS regime is known as WHMIS 2015.
WHIMIS 2015 changes:
- Controlled products are now called hazardous products;
- New classifications for hazardous chemicals;
- 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; and
- Safety data sheets are required to be updated on an ongoing basis, as new relevant information about a product becomes available. There is no longer a requirement to update a safety data sheet every three years.
