WHMIS Flashcards
What does WHMIS stand for?
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System
Exploding Bomb
Explosion or reactivity hazards)
- Material is explosive and risks combusting when mishandled.
- Professionals should handle materials only under safe conditions and with extreme care.
- Proper storage: some may be sensitive to heat or light
- Risk for serious injury or death.
- EX: spray paint in an aerosol container
General precautions
- Keep material away from heat or combustibles, source of ignition
- No smoking
- Store in designated area (fireproof, cool)
- Do not drop
- Avoid contact with eyes, skin
- Wear equipment/protective clothing
- Well ventilated area
- Containers tightly closed
Flame Over Circle
(Oxidizing hazards) - Extremely reactive to oxygen,
- generating a large amount of heat when they come into contact with the element, even under mild conditions.
- Do not burn themselves, but will improve the likelihood of combustible materials around them to catch fire
- (wood, textiles or other flammable materials, with lower levels of heat needed to catch fire.)
Gas Cylinder
(Gases under pressure) - the gas contained in a cylinder is under high-pressure
- will be sensitive to punctures or leaks,
- risk of explosions or allowing the cylinder to turn into a makeshift projectile
- gases contained within these cylinders are hazardous themselves
- so other hazard labels are often accompanied by a gas cylinder label.
Corrosion
- (Corrosive damage to metals, skin, eyes)
- chemical reactions: destroys things in the process.
- damage is devastating and chemicals usually react immediately on contact
- Extreme caution must be taken: with proper PPE being worn
- Other health effects
- EX: Toilet boil cleaner
Skull & Crossbones
(Can cause death or toxicity with short exposure to small amounts)
- potential to be fatal, toxic, or extremely harmful even with limited exposure.
- Through contact with skin, inhalation, or swallowing and the specifics will be specified on the Safety Data Sheet (SDS).
- Proper handling should be taken extremely seriously with these materials.
- EX: Antifreeze
Health Hazard
- (May cause or suspected of causing serious health effects)
- chronic health effects from disease, sickness, cancer, infertility, and more. - Not serious injury or damage immediately, rather long term exposure without proper protection
- Can lead to very serious chronic health conditions.
- Proper PPE is reqired
Exclamation Mark
(May causes less serious health effects or damage the ozone layer)- Less severe health effects from exposure
- irritation, inflammation, coughing etc.
- generally treatable and have less of risk for long term chronic health effects compared to materials under the health hazard label.
- should still be treated as dangerous as some individuals may be more sensitive to the effects.
Environment
Environment (May cause damage to the aquatic environment)- not mandatory in Canada,
- kept out of water sources as they will harm aquatic life and lead to toxic impacts to the environment in those settings.
- These materials can also make their way into homes if treatment plants aren’t equipped to remove them, so they are important to keep these materials out of water sources.
Biohazardous Infectious Materials
-(Organisms or toxins that can cause diseases in people or animals)
- Material contains organisms harmful to our health by causing disease or other serious illnesses.
- bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.
- Handling biohazardous materials requires extensive PPE including hazmat suits.
- risks associated with biohazardous materials are serious and if you fear you have been exposed, seek medical attention immediately.
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Octagon border
This border simply means that the contents are dangerous and should be handled with care.
Upside down triangle border
Symbols inside the inverted triangle refer to the container
HHPS
Hazardous Houshold Product Symbols
