Skip to content
{notification.title}
{notification.description}

Chemical substances

Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulation defines a chemical as a substance in any natural or artificial substance that is not classified as biological. Chemicals can be solid, liquid, gas or vapour. Examples of chemical substances include polyethylene, ethanol, benzene and silica.

A chemical can be considered hazardous if it causes injury or illness to a person who is occupationally exposed to it. It requires the use of appropriate personal protective equipment. Exposures can occur through inhalation, absorption (skin or eye contact) and ingestion.

A chemical may also be hazardous if it is used in particular ways. For example, some chemicals are combustible or flammable, while others may produce hazardous by-products as a result of chemical reactions.

Inhalation, absorption (skin or eye contact) and ingestion are examples of how a worker can become exposed to a chemical hazard in the workplace. Exposure to chemical hazards may result in short or long-term illness, injury or death.

When there are hazardous chemicals in a workplace, appropriate control measures, as laid out in Part 36 – Chemical and Biological Substances of the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulation need to be taken to meet legal requirements and protect workers from occupational exposure to hazardous chemical substances. In addition to these control measures, worker training is required.

Legislation

Under Part 36 – Chemical and Biological Substances of the Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Regulation, the following actions must be taken to meet legal requirements and protect workers from exposure to chemical substances or hazards:

  1. Determine which chemical substance in the workplace presents a risk to workers in consultation with the safety and health committee, safety and health representative and workers using the chemicals for work in the workplace.
  2. Use safe work procedures, as determined by a risk assessment that factors the use, production, storage, handling and disposal, for each chemical substance that presents a risk. Train workers in the safe work procedures.
  3. Determine if the risk to occupational exposure is from a non-airborne (absorption and ingestion) or airborne (inhalation) chemical substance.
  4. If the exposure is not airborne, employer must immediately apply control measures to eliminate the risk.
  5. If the exposure is airborne, establish an appropriate occupational exposure limit (OEL), guided by threshold limit value contained in the guideline of America Conference of Government Industrial Hygienist (ACGIH).
  6. Monitor airborne exposures to chemical substances.
  7. If the workplace assessment or monitoring indicates that workers are exposed to a chemical substance in excess of the OEL, apply control measures to reduce exposure and meet the OEL.
  8. Make sure control measures ensure worker exposures do not exceed the OEL.
  9. Reassess risk of exposure to workers when there is new information on the toxicity of a chemical substance, or when workplace or worker conditions or duties change.

In addition to the above, workers must be trained on using chemical substances in the workplace. While general Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) education will allow everyone who may come into contact with chemical substances to recognize that a hazard exists, employers are also responsible to ensure that workers who are exposed, or may be exposed, receive more specific information related to the risks associated with using the various chemical substances in the workplace. This includes knowing how to handle, use, store and dispose of chemical substances safely based on the safety data sheet (SDS).

Manitoba’s Workplace Safety and Health Act and associated regulations are in place to protect the safety and health of workers in Manitoba. The regulation part associated with this safety topic is linked below.

Part 35 Workplace Hazardous Products Information Systems Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation

Part 36 Chemical and Biological Substances Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health Act and Regulation

Related links

Hazards and exposures topic list