WHMIS in Ontario: What the Ministry Requires of Employers

At the federal level, the Hazardous Products Act and the Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR) apply to suppliers, whose SDS and label information must be in both official languages (HPR, s. 6.2(1)).

In an Ontario workplace, Part IV of the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 860 set the employer's duties. The ministry's inspectors check compliance with both the federal and the provincial rules. The Ontario rules apply in every OHSA workplace except farms; federally regulated workplaces such as banks and airports are outside them.

Inspectors of the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development may enter any workplace at any time without a warrant or notice (OHSA, s. 54(1)(a)), ask for documents and records and take samples of chemical agents (s. 54(1)(c) and (e)). Proactive visits are usually unannounced; inspectors also respond to critical injuries, complaints and work refusals.

An inspector who finds a contravention may order compliance, orally or in writing (s. 57(1)), and may stop work where the contravention is a danger to a worker (s. 57(6)(b)). Where a hazardous material is not properly identified or the employer cannot obtain a current SDS, the inspector may order that it not be used (s. 57(8)). Orders can be appealed to the Ontario Labour Relations Board.

Charges are laid under section 66 of the OHSA. The maximum fines today:

• A corporation: up to $2,000,000; at least $500,000 for a second or later offence within two years that causes a death or serious injury (s. 66(2)).
• A director or officer who breaches section 32: up to $1,500,000, up to 12 months in jail, or both (s. 66(2.1)).
• Any other person: up to $500,000, up to 12 months in jail, or both (s. 66(1)). The court weighs ten listed aggravating factors (s. 66(2.2)).

The employer must make sure every hazardous material in the workplace is identified and must obtain or prepare a current SDS for it (OHSA, s. 37(1)). A product received from a supplier needs the supplier SDS (Reg. 860, s. 17(1)). A product with no compliant label or SDS may not be used or handled (OHSA, s. 37(3)); it may only be stored while the employer is actively seeking them (Reg. 860, s. 5). If the employer cannot get a label or SDS after reasonable efforts, it tells a Director in writing (OHSA, s. 37(4)).

A copy of every current SDS is made available for workers to examine and is readily available to the workers who may be exposed (OHSA, s. 38(1)(a) and (1.1)). A copy also goes to the joint health and safety committee or health and safety representative (s. 38(1)(b)). The employer consults the committee or representative on how SDSs are made available (s. 38(6)).

Updates follow two rules. A supplier SDS kept at the workplace is updated as soon as practicable after significant new data arrives (Reg. 860, s. 17(2)). An SDS the employer prepares for a product it makes is updated as soon as practicable and no later than 90 days after the significant new data becomes available (s. 18(1) and (3)). Significant new data is new hazard information that changes the classification or the protective measures (s. 1(1)). Ontario has no three-year SDS review rule.

An SDS in electronic format counts as a copy (OHSA, s. 38(5)). The ministry adds that paper copies are not required, but every SDS, paper or electronic, must be close to the workers and accessible on every shift, and workers must know how to reach it. A locked or distant office does not meet the rule.

Every hazardous product received from a supplier must carry a supplier label (Reg. 860, s. 8(1)). The employer may not alter it while any product remains, replaces an illegible or removed label, and adds significant new data from the supplier as soon as practicable (s. 8(2), (3) and (5)).

A workplace label is required on a product the employer makes (s. 9(1)) and on a product decanted into another container (s. 10(1)). It gives the product identifier matching the SDS, safe handling information and a statement that an SDS is available (s. 1(1)). A portable container used only by the worker who filled it, during the same shift, with its contents clearly identified, is exempt (s. 10(2)). Pipes, process vessels and conveyors are identified by colour coding, labels, placards or another method, backed by worker education (s. 11).

Labels and SDSs must be available in English and in any other language prescribed (OHSA, s. 37(1)(c)); Reg. 860 prescribes no other. Supplier labels and SDSs must still be in English and French under federal law, and the ministry says employers have some flexibility on the language and format of workplace labels. Laboratory samples are the one place Reg. 860 itself prints a bilingual statement (s. 14(2)).

Every worker exposed or likely to be exposed to a hazardous product must receive, and take part in, WHMIS instruction and training (OHSA, s. 42(1)). The program is developed and put in place in consultation with the committee or representative (s. 42(2)).

Training covers the content and purpose of labels and SDSs, safe use, storage, handling and disposal, piping and vessels, fugitive emissions and emergency procedures (Reg. 860, s. 7(1)). It must leave workers able to use the information to protect themselves (s. 7(3)).

The employer reviews the training, and each worker's familiarity with it, at least once a year with the committee or representative (OHSA, s. 42(3)), and more often if the committee advises it or circumstances change (s. 42(4)). The ministry's guide sets no expiry date for WHMIS training and mentions no certificate.

Workers have the right to know about hazards, to take part in health and safety, and to refuse unsafe work (OHSA, s. 43). A joint health and safety committee is required where 20 or more workers are regularly employed (s. 9(2)(a)).

An Ontario employer with sites in other provinces works under more than one rule set. Some jurisdictions, including federally regulated workplaces, require employers to actively seek an updated SDS every three years; Ontario ties updates to significant new data instead. Quebec requires labels, signs and SDSs in French (LSST, s. 62.4), where Ontario requires English.

The simplest approach is one system built to the strictest rule: one bilingual SDS library, each SDS replaced as soon as the supplier issues a new version, access on every shift at every site, and a yearly training review on record.

Compare WHMIS rules in every province