WHMIS in New Brunswick (Regulation 2016-6)

About this regulation

New Brunswick Regulation 2016-6, the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Regulation, is made under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. It came into force on April 1, 2016 and replaced Regulation 88-221 (ss. 22–23). It sets out what an employer must do so that employees who work with, or may be exposed to, hazardous products get the information they need: labels, safety data sheets (SDSs) and education, instruction and training.

A hazardous product is any product, mixture, material or substance classified under the federal Hazardous Products Act regulations in a category or subcategory of a hazard class listed in Schedule 2 of that Act (s. 2).

Key definitions (s. 3)

Term	Meaning in the Regulation
Education	Delivery of general or portable information to employees
Instruction	Detailed information, verbal or written, describing how something should be done, operated or assembled
Training	Delivery of work site and job-specific information to employees
Hazard information	Information on the proper and safe use, storage and handling of a hazardous product, including its health and physical hazards
Container	Includes a bag, barrel, bottle, box, can, cylinder, drum or similar package or receptacle, but not a storage tank
Product identifier	The brand name, chemical name, common name, generic name or trade name
Readily available	Present in an appropriate place and accessible to an employee at all times, as a physical copy or an electronic copy
Fugitive emission	A gas, liquid, solid, vapour, fume, mist, fog or dust escaping from process equipment, emission control equipment or a product where employees may be readily exposed to it
Significant new data	New hazard data that changes the product's classification, puts it in another hazard class, or changes the ways to protect against the hazard
Hazardous waste	A hazardous product acquired or generated for recycling or recovery, or intended for disposal
Safety data sheet	Includes both a supplier SDS and an employer SDS

A workplace label is a label provided by the employer that discloses:

1. a product identifier identical to the one on the product's SDS,
2. safe-handling information conveyed in a manner appropriate to the workplace, and
3. that an SDS, if supplied or produced, is available.

What the Regulation does not cover (s. 4)

Under s. 4(1), and subject to s. 4(3), the Regulation does not apply at a place of employment to a hazardous product that is:

• wood or a product made of wood,
• a tobacco product,
• a manufactured article (formed to a specific shape or design during manufacture, whose intended use depends in whole or in part on that shape or design, and which will not release or cause exposure to a hazardous product when installed and under normal use),
• hazardous waste, or
• being transported or handled under the federal Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992.

Hazardous waste is not a free pass: the employer shall still ensure its safe storage and handling by identifying it and by providing information, education, instruction and training under ss. 6 and 7 (s. 4(3)).

Under s. 4(2), the supplier-label rules in s. 8(1)–(4) and the SDS and confidentiality rules in ss. 14, 15, 16 and 18 do not apply to explosives, cosmetics, devices, drugs, foods, pest control products, radioactive nuclear substances and consumer products, each as defined in the listed federal Acts.

General prohibition (s. 5)

• An employer shall ensure a hazardous product is not used, stored or handled at the place of employment unless the Regulation's requirements are met (s. 5(1)).
• Exception: the employer may store the product while actively seeking the information the Regulation requires (s. 5(2)).

Hazard information for employees (s. 6)

An employee who works with a hazardous product, or who may be exposed to it at work, must be informed of:

• all hazard information received from the supplier, and
• any further hazard information about its use, storage and handling that the employer is aware of or ought to be aware of (s. 6(1)).

For a product produced at the place of employment, the employee must be told all hazard information the employer is or ought to be aware of (s. 6(2)).

Education, instruction and training (s. 7)

Employees who work with or may be exposed to a hazardous product must receive education, instruction and training in (s. 7(1)):

1. the content required on supplier and workplace labels, and the purpose and significance of that information;
2. the content required on an SDS, and the purpose and significance of that information;
3. procedures for safe use, storage, handling and disposal;
4. specific information for products contained or transferred in pipes, piping systems including valves, process or reaction vessels, and tank cars, tank trucks, ore cars, conveyor belts or similar conveyances;
5. procedures to follow where fugitive emissions are present and employees may be exposed; and
6. procedures in case of an emergency involving a hazardous product.

The program must be (s. 7(2)):

• developed and implemented for this place of employment,
• related to any other hazard prevention and control program there, and
• developed and implemented in consultation with the committee, if any, or the health and safety representative, if any.

So far as reasonably practicable (s. 7(3)), the program must result in employees being able to apply the information to protect their health and safety, and their knowledge must be periodically evaluated by a written test, practical demonstration or other suitable means (determined in consultation with the committee or representative, if any).

The employer shall review the education, instruction and training at least annually, or more often if work conditions or available hazard information change, in consultation with the committee or representative, if any (s. 7(4)).

Labels

Supplier labels (s. 8)

• A hazardous product or container received at the workplace must have a supplier label that complies with the Hazardous Products Regulations (s. 8(1)), subject to the exemptions in those regulations.
• While any amount of the product remains in the supplier's container, the employer shall not remove, deface, modify or alter the supplier label. Apart from exemptions under the Hazardous Products Regulations and s. 17, the only exception is removal from a container of 3 ml or less where the label interferes with normal use (s. 8(4)).
• Labels or container information must be updated as soon as the supplier provides significant new data (s. 8(5)).
• If a label becomes illegible or is accidentally removed, the employer shall replace it with a supplier label or a workplace label (s. 8(6)).
• Special cases: imported products received without a compliant supplier label under a federal exemption get a workplace label if used only in the workplace, or a compliant label if resold (s. 8(2)); unpackaged or bulk products received without a supplier label get a label with the information required of a supplier label (s. 8(3)).

Workplace labels (ss. 9–10)

• A hazardous product the employer produces (other than a fugitive emission), or its container, must carry a workplace label (s. 9(1)), unless it is in a container for sale or disposition that is or is about to be appropriately labelled (s. 9(3)). Workplace labels are updated as soon as significant new data is available (s. 9(2)).
• Decanted products: any container that is not the one received from the supplier must have a workplace label (s. 10(1)).
• Portable container exception (s. 10(2)) – no workplace label is needed on a portable container filled directly from a container with a supplier or workplace label if either:
  • (a) the product is under the control of, and used only by, the employee who filled it, is used only during the shift in which it was filled, and is clearly identified; or
  • (b) all of the product in it is required for immediate use.

Pipes, vessels and conveyances (s. 11)

For products in pipes, piping systems with valves, process or reaction vessels, or tank cars, tank trucks, ore cars, conveyor belts and similar conveyances, safe use is ensured by education, instruction and training plus colour coding, labels, placards or any other mode of identification.

Placards (s. 12)

Instead of the labels in ss. 8–10, an employer may post a placard near the product that gives the workplace label information and is conspicuous and clearly legible, if the product is:

• not in a container,
• in a container or form intended for export, or
• in a container for sale or disposition that is not about to be labelled under s. 9(3) but will be labelled in the normal course of business without undue delay.

(Section 13 contains special labelling rules for laboratory samples and products made in laboratories.)

Safety data sheets

Supplier SDSs (s. 14)

• When acquiring a hazardous product for use, handling or storage, the employer shall obtain a supplier SDS that complies with the Hazardous Products Regulations (s. 14(1)). If the supplier is exempt from providing one, so is the employer (s. 14(2)).
• If an up-to-date supplier SDS cannot be obtained, the employer shall add any significant new data to the most recent supplier SDS, based on the ingredients it discloses (s. 14(3)).
• An employer may give employees an SDS in a different format or with extra hazard information only if it discloses no less information, states that the supplier SDS is available, and the supplier SDS is kept readily available (s. 14(4)).

Employer SDSs (s. 15)

• An employer that produces a hazardous product in the workplace shall prepare an SDS for it (s. 15(1)). "Produces" does not include fugitive emissions or intermediate products reacting inside a reaction or process vessel (s. 15(2)).
• The source of any toxicological data used must be disclosed on request to an employee, an officer, or a committee member or health and safety representative (s. 15(4)).
• The employer SDS must be updated as soon as practical and not later than 90 days after significant new data becomes available (s. 15(5)).

Access (s. 16)

• A copy of each SDS must be readily available to employees who may be exposed and to the committee or health and safety representative, if any.
• The committee or representative must be consulted on the best way to make SDSs accessible in the workplace.

Confidential business information (ss. 17–20)

An employer may claim an exemption from disclosing certain confidential business information (for example chemical names, CAS registry numbers, ingredient concentrations, product identifiers or information identifying the supplier) (s. 18(1)). Claims are decided by the Minister of Health (Canada) under the federal Hazardous Materials Information Review Act (s. 18(2)–(4)). While a claim is in effect, the claimed information may be deleted from a supplier label or SDS, but hazard information may never be deleted (s. 17). The date the claim was filed and its registry number must be shown on the SDS and, if applicable, the label (s. 19(1)).

Quick review

• The employer is responsible for the WHMIS requirements: labels, SDSs and education, instruction and training.
• Section 4(1) excludes wood and wood products, tobacco products, manufactured articles, hazardous waste and products transported or handled under the TDG Act; hazardous waste must still be identified and handled safely (s. 4(3)).
• Do not use or handle a hazardous product until the requirements are met; storage is allowed while actively seeking the information.
• Do not remove or deface a supplier label while any product remains in the container (subject to the narrow exceptions in s. 8(4)).
• Decanted product = workplace label, unless the s. 10(2) portable-container conditions are met.
• SDSs must be readily available (physical or electronic, at all times, in an appropriate place).
• Training is reviewed at least annually; knowledge is periodically evaluated.

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Source: New Brunswick Regulation 2016-6, Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System Regulation – Occupational Health and Safety Act (consolidated to April 1, 2016).