WHMIS 2025: What Changed and What It Means for Your Workplace

If you've noticed "WHMIS 2025" on course names and labels, you're not alone in wondering what changed. Here's a plain-language summary.

If you've noticed "WHMIS 2025" on course names and labels, you're not alone in wondering what changed. Here's a plain-language summary.

Why WHMIS was updated

WHMIS is Canada's system for communicating chemical hazards at work. It's based on an international system called the Globally Harmonized System, or GHS. The GHS gets updated from time to time. Canada updated its rules to line up with the 7th revised edition of the GHS, plus some parts of the 8th.

The federal Hazardous Products Regulations were amended. The changes came into force on December 15, 2022, and were published in the Canada Gazette, Part II, in January 2023. Suppliers were given a three-year transition period to update their labels and safety data sheets (SDSs). That period ended on December 14, 2025.

What changed

Most of the changes affect suppliers, meaning the companies that make or import hazardous products. They include:

• New and updated hazard classes. There is a new class for chemicals under pressure. "Flammable Aerosols" is now "Aerosols", with a new category for non-flammable aerosols. Flammable gases have new subcategories.
• Updated wording on labels and SDSs, including some hazard and precautionary statements.
• Changes to how concentration ranges can be shown when ingredient details are protected as confidential business information. Suppliers can now use narrower ranges.
• More detail required on SDSs, including listing every hazardous ingredient in a mixture above the set cut-off levels.

What it means for employers

Your day-to-day duties haven't changed. Under Alberta OHS rules, employers still need to make sure hazardous products are properly labelled, keep current SDSs available to workers, and train workers in WHMIS and in the specific products they use.

What's new is what your workers will see. Labels and SDSs from suppliers may now use new hazard classes and wording. If your WHMIS training is a few years old, workers may not recognize the updated information.

What to do now

1. Check your SDS binder or system. Replace any SDSs that are out of date.
2. Look at your labels. Updated supplier labels may look slightly different.
3. Refresh your workers' WHMIS training so it reflects the current rules.
4. Keep a record of who was trained and when. You'll be asked for it at your COR audit.