Canada’s GHS Implementation: Phase 3
By: Kirsten Alcock, Manager of Product Safety, email
On February 11, 2015, Health Canada published in the Canada Gazette, Part II the Hazardous Products Regulations (HPR), which modified the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) 1988 to incorporate the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) for the workplace. This modified WHMIS is commonly referred to as WHMIS 2015. The Controlled Products Regulations (CPR) have been repealed and replaced with the HPR.
The first deadline for Canada GHS implementation for SDSs and labels was June 1, 2018, whereby all manufacturers and importers were required to be using the new WHMIS 2015 Hazard labels as well as the newly formatted SDS. Phase two passed on August 31st of this year. In this phase, distributors were required to get their SDS and labels into compliance to meet the new GHS requirements.
We are now in the final phase, Phase 3. In this phase, employers are required to have the documentation in-house updated to meet the new requirements. This phase ends November 30, 2018. As of December 1, 2018, all SDSs and labels for Canada must be in the new format. There are no extensions in place.
There is some confusion regarding the use of US labels and SDSs in Canada. Although we are all part of North America, our regulations are quite different. Canada is using GHS Version 5 statements therefore any US product that is being imported and sold into Canada must have these version 5 statements included on their SDS and label. Currently, the United States is using Version 3.
Another big difference between the two countries is the use of Trade Secrets. In Canada, if you wish to mask the chemical name on your SDS, you are required to apply for a Trade Secret number. This is not the case in the US therefore any SDS coming across claiming Trade Secret for a chemical name without a government-issued trade secret number is not compliant.
If you would like more information about these aforementioned GHS amendments or to change your existing documents to use approved Trade Secrets numbers in Canada, please contact Dell Tech for further details on our SDS authoring process.
Contact:
Dell Tech
Kirsten Alcock, B.Sc. (Hons)
Manager, Product Safety Group
519-858-5074
kirsten@delltech.com
Dell Tech has provided professional, confidential consulting services to the chemical specialty
industry in Canada, the USA, Europe, and Asia for the last 40 years.
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