Small, But Important WHMIS Amendment

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If you are responsible for doing WHMIS classifications and writing WHMIS-compliant material safety data sheets (MSDSs), you will want to pay particular attention to recent changes made to the Controlled Products Regulations (CPR), which establish the rules for the Canadian Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS). Under the Hazardous Products Act (HPA), the CPR amendment SOR/2010-38, published and coming into force February 23, 2010, addresses some issues related to hazard classification and the information provided on MSDSs.

Highlights include the following:

• Previously, the supplier was required to include on the MSDS specific information required by the regulation plus "any other hazard information with respect to the controlled product of which the supplier is aware or ought reasonably to be aware." [CPR subsection 12(11)] A regulatory review concluded that the HPA does not provide the authority for the CPR to say "aware or ought to be reasonably aware". The amended rules now requires the disclosure on the MSDS of "all additional hazard information that is available to the supplier with respect to the controlled product or, if appropriate, a product, material or substance that has similar properties, including any evidence based on established scientific principles."

Amended subsection 33(2) now lists the type of additional scientific evidence the supplier may use to determine if a product, material or substance does or does not meet the criteria for Class D - Poisonous and Infectious Material as follows:

1. results of other testing for the product, material or substance;
2. if appropriate, results of other testing of a product, material or substance that has similar properties; or
3. other evidence based on studies, epidemiological data for the product, material or substance or, if appropriate, a product, material or substance that has similar properties.
• With respect to the rules regarding hazard classification, the statement "evaluation and scientific judgment based on test results" [subsection 33(1)] was determined to be too subjective. Suppliers must now use "evidence based on established scientific principles ..." on which to base their classification decisions.
• Previously an infectious substance (Division 3 of Class D) was defined as "an organism that has been shown to cause disease in persons or animals or is reasonably believed to cause disease in persons or animals". The definition has been changed to "an organism that has been shown to cause disease or to be a probable cause of disease in persons or animals". [section 64]

The changes to the CPR are intended to clarify the regulations under the legislative authority provided by the HPA and to ensure consistency between the English and French versions of the regulations.