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How Often Must WHMIS Training Be Renewed? – Ask The Expert

There’s no shelf life on the freshness of WHMIS training.

QUESTION

Does WHMIS training have to be renewed every year’ If not, how often is renewal training required’

ANSWER

No, and it depends.

EXPLANATION

There’s a common misconception that employers must provide workers exposed to hazardous products new WHMIS training every year. This is not the case. What the laws require is that employers annually review their WHMIS Program, including the training component. That means reviewing your entire WHMIS training system and procedures, but not necessarily the individual training you provided to each worker at your site.

So, when does WHMIS training have to be renewed’ The simple answer is as often as necessary to ensure exposed workers have all the information they need to be safe. Specifically, you must renew WHMIS training any time you have reason to suspect that previous training is no longer adequate. Examples:

  • Your annual WHMIS Program review uncovers problems with the previous training;
  • You introduce new chemical products into the workplace posing hazards that the previous training didn’t cover;
  • You get new hazard information about a product from the manufacturer or supplier;
  • Incidents or injuries involving hazardous products occur;
  • There are any other indications that previous WHMIS training is inadequate and needs to be refreshed.

You just never know when and if such indications will arise prompting the need for renewed WHMIS training. It could take years; it could take days; or it may never happen. The key to compliance is constantly monitoring for and responding to these indications quickly whenever they do occur.