NWT & Nunavut WHMIS Certificate Online

Northwest Territories and Nunavut 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.

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

In the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and the other provinces and territories, there is also local legislation and regulation for the implementation and enforcement of WHMIS. In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut this is covered in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Safety Act and the Occupational Health & Safety Regulations, Part 22.

As an employer in Northwest Territories or Nunavut, 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 Northwest Territories or Nunavut?
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 the Northwest Territories and Nunavut 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?
The Northwest Territories and Nunavut WHMIS laws do not currently 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.

While the Northwest Territories and Nunavut 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.

When you have questions about local WHMIS requirements you can contact the jurisdiction that regulates WHMIS for In the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. More information is available in the PDF document titled "Occupational Health & Safety Regulations", provided by the Northwest Territories and Nunavut Workers’ Safety and Compensation Commission website.

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