Employer
Responsibilities include:
• Create and maintain a list of all hazardous materials present in the
workplace. (Inventory)
• Make sure all containers/packages holding hazardous materials in the workplace are labeled
• Make available, located in a conspicuous place, for easy access all
Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for all hazardous materials
• Provide workplace specific training regarding safe use, handling, and
storage of the hazardous material (WHMIS 2015 training) in consultation with the Joint Health and Safety Committee, Health and Safety Representative.
Here’s How it Goes…
The hazardous material travels from the manufacturer/supplier into your workplace to you and your work. You, the workers have both rights and responsibilities under the WHMIS Information system. Protecting your Health and Safety is what matters most. Your Employer is ultimately responsible for your health and safety. Workplaces who have management or supervisors, those obligations of the employer become the responsibility of Management and Supervisors. Not to leave anyone out of the loop as an employee you also have responsibilities as well.

The Story of Sean Kells

In November, 1994, Sean Kells was pouring a highly flammable chemical from one ungrounded drum to another when it ignited and exploded. Sean was not told that what he was doing was potentially dangerous, let alone lethal. Sean was killed on the third day of his part-time job. He was nineteen years old. Sean never received work place specific training on how to ground and bond those containers. Just like your jumper cables on your car, you would clamp one side to the drums, the other side  to the other container you are pouring into and the cable then run to ground. Had that been in place, static electricity which exists anywhere, would not have existed and Sean Kells would be alive today. The static electricity is what caused a spark and it ignited and burned Sean very badly.

His death was not an “accident”; it was entirely preventable.