Manitoba WHMIS for Employers

WHMIS in Canada is a combination of federal, provincial, and territorial legislation. The federal components are the Hazardous Products Act and the Controlled Products Regulations. When people talk about employers having a requirement to educate their workers on WHMIS, they are talking about educating them on the information from the federal act and regulations.

WHMIS symbols, classifications of hazards, and labelling for WHMIS are the same for Manitoba WHMIS as they would be for any other province or territory making the WHMIS course materials standard across Canada for the information workers need to know from the WHMIS legislation. This national consistency is an important part of the Canadian WHMIS program.

In Manitoba and the other provinces and territories, there is also local legislation and regulation for the implementation and enforcement of WHMIS. In Manitoba this is covered in the Workplace Safety and Health Act and Workplace Health and Safety Regulation, M.R. 217/2006, Part 35.

As an employer in Manitoba, do I need to educate and train my employees on WHMIS?
The simple answer to this question is Yes, it is a requirement for employers to educate their workers on WHMIS, where controlled products are present in the workplace. This includes education on what WHMIS is, the classifications of hazards, labelling and how to read a Safety Data Sheet (SDS) and is often referred to as "Generic WHMIS" because it would be the same training materials for any workplace regardless of the products used in the workplace and regardless of the types of hazards from these products. The employer has a second part to this responsibility and that is to provide more product specific or site specific training on the products and hazards that are applicable to the work that employee is performing and the products they would handle or be in contact with.

How frequently do I need to train my workers on WHMIS in Manitoba?
This is the question that can have a different answer from province to province and territory. It is the regulatory authority in each province or territory that sets the answer to this question. In Manitoba employers who have controlled products in the workplace or workers exposed to controlled products must have a WHMIS program in place – and must review their WHMIS program annually, – if there is a change in conditions or a change in hazard information employers must review their program more frequently.

Do I need to have a WHMIS Certificate for my employees?
Currently, Manitoba WHMIS laws do not require employers to issue a certificate to their employees. A WHMIS Certificate or WHMIS Card can be issued by the person or organization which provides WHMIS education, training and testing.

Although Manitoba WHMIS laws do not require that a WHMIS certificate is issued, it is becoming more common that workers from one organization are off site on other organizations work sites. In this case where you have workers on my job site, I can require you to show some form of evidence that your employees have had "Generic WHMIS education and training". Having a WHMIS Card or Certificate is a common way that contract workers or workers who work off site (not only at their own location) are able to provide documentation that speaks to the training they have had.

A WHMIS certificate typically includes the person’s name, company employed by, a testing or training date and a test score if applicable. Most importantly is information on who issued the WHMIS certificate as a way for to assess the credibility of the training or verify the course completion details.

In Manitoba the WHMIS authority is Manitoba Labour and Immigration. More information is available at this link http://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/safety/index.html

WHMIS Training Comments from Manitoba Customers

I have really enjoyed using SafeAndCertified to do our WHMIS training. As an administrator of our system I have found it very easy to setup and use. The support from SafeAndCertified is really good. Any questions I have had were answered quickly and to my satisfaction. I would recommend the system to any company to get their training done. Keep up the good work!

Roger Worms
Western School Division, Manitoba

Some time ago our General Contracting company had need to centralize and expedite certain training to our team members. WHMIS training being the predominant need at the time I searched for a suitable platform and reputable company to deliver this training.

SafeAndCertified was soon on the shortlist and with a few discussions with a company rep, felt comfortable to proceed in using their services. I must say that the experience was seamless---the company representative more than open to explain their offerings in detail, the delivery mechanism simply easy to use and the training more than sufficient for our needs. I have been very satisfied with the services that SafeAndCertified provides and would highly recommend this company to those in need of the same. Very professional and proficient in the delivery of their product. Great experience.

Bob Peters
Keystone Contactors & Builders, Manitoba

We have had a great experience using SafeAndCertified.com. It is very convenient how they can import all your trainees for you, or you can manage all of it yourself. We feel confident that we can trust SafeAndCertified.com to always be there for all of our support inquiries. To top it off their price is extremely affordable! It has been a pleasure working with SafeAndCertified.com.

Keith Burch
G/L Designs 2005, Manitoba

Bison Janitorial Services is using the online WHMIS training Services provided by safeandcertified.com. We have found this to be a very easy and inexpensive way for our employees to get their WHMIS certificates. I would recommend this to any company to use.

Traci Longley
Office Manager
Bison Janitorial Services, Ltd., Manitoba

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