Marco Vigliotti
Training courses for hazardous workplace materials created by a Sarnia-based company will soon be used by businesses nationwide.
LEHDER Environmental Services devised the web-based program to educate worker about the Global Harmonized System, a new government mandated classification scheme for dangerous or controlled workplace products.
The new system replaces the long-standing Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System, or WHMIS, a classification and labelling standard for chemical products required in many Canadian workplaces.
“(The) target audience includes all businesses, industrial big and small, as well as independents (and) retail,” said Mark Roehler, a principal at LEHDER.
Roehler, who developed the courses himself, said the adoption of GHS is part of an international movement to harmonize the different classification systems in use, and it should prove beneficial for Canadian businesses eyeing foreign markets.
"(GHS) symbols will be global and consistent with all countries around the world with the same hazard statements,” he said. "This will be a big help for industries and for the little guy who sells products abroad.”
The basic online program can be completed in an hour and more intensive courses for supervisors and managers take two and a half hours.
The courses are self-paced to allow for workplace interruptions, and include quizzes at the end of each section to ensure student comprehension.
Once a student registers for a course they will be updated on any regulatory changes to keep them abreast of the changing landscape as GHS is implemented across the nation, LEHDER marketing director Rachel Jones told the Journal.
The program, because it’s short, should help time-crunched Canadian businesses staring down a government imposed June 2017 deadline to have workers up to speed on the classification system, Roehler said.
“The window of time for industry to react is shrinking.”
The online courses are currently available at http://lehder.com/training/elearning