Whmis

5.3

Hazardous Products and Workplace Safety

While going about her normal cleaning duties one day, a school custodian

unintentionally mixed two cleaning solvents. Soon, irritating fumes of toxic

chlorine gas filled the room, making it difficult for her to breathe. She was

rushed to hospital, where she died later that evening.

This tragic accident prompted an investigation. School board officials

asked whether any other products used in schools were hazardous. One

of the first places they looked for this information was the WHMIS

information for each product.

What Is WHMIS?

Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) provides

Canadian workers with information on the safe use of hazardous products

in their workplace. Employers must, by law, provide this information. The

information is conveyed in three ways: WHMIS product labels, materials

safety data sheets (MSDS), and worker training.

WHMIS Product Labels

WRITING T IP

Writing a Summary

Use the topic sentence to restate the

main idea of the text in your own words.

For example, if the text says “A WHMIS

product label is your first alert that the

product may be hazardous.”, you might

paraphrase this main idea by saying

“WHMIS labels are warnings about

dangerous products.”

A WHMIS product label is your first alert that the product may be hazardous.

There are two common types of product labels in most workplaces: supplier

labels and workplace labels. A supplier label is required on any hazardous

material that is sold or imported to a workplace in Canada (Figure 1). A

supplier label must always have a hatched border and must be written in both

English and French. It must also include the name of the product, any relevant

hazard symbol, the supplier’s contact information, and a reference to the

MSDS. A workplace label must appear on all hazardous materials produced

in a workplace or transferred to other containers within a workplace

(Figure 2). Workplace labels do not have...