Based on the official CCOHS WHMIS guidance (GHS-aligned)
Practice on the go and jump straight back to where you left off.
About the certification
WHMIS (the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) is Canada's workplace hazard communication system, and there is no single national WHMIS exam: your employer must make sure you are trained, the province or territory sets the training requirements, and this free practice test helps you prepare for whatever test your employer or training provider uses.
The federal Hazardous Products Regulations set the rules for supplier labels and safety data sheets, and provincial and territorial occupational health and safety law sets what employers owe workers. Canada has aligned WHMIS with the Globally Harmonized System (GHS). The Hazardous Products Regulations were amended on 15 December 2022 and Health Canada says the 3-year transition period ended on 14 December 2025, so this quiz reflects the current rules, including the 9 pictograms, the 6 supplier-label elements, and the 16-section Safety Data Sheet.
Training is delivered by employers and many providers, and each sets its own test length and pass mark. ExamHub's free WHMIS practice quiz has 169 original questions across eight topic areas, written from the CCOHS WHMIS fact sheets. Its timed test draws 20 questions with an 80% pass mark, which is our own setting, not an official one.
Quick facts
Checked 5 Nov 2026. Confirm current requirements with your employer and your provincial or territorial OHS authority.
What's covered
Try a few
Five questions pulled from the full bank, with the answer shown — use the quiz above for the real timed experience.
Why: WHMIS stands for the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System — Canada's system for communicating health and safety information about hazardous products in the workplace.
Why: WHMIS 2015 uses 9 pictograms: eight from GHS (flame, flame over circle, gas cylinder, corrosion, exploding bomb, skull and crossbones, health hazard, exclamation mark) plus the biohazardous infectious materials pictogram, which is specific to Canada. The GHS environment pictogram is not used in WHMIS.
Why: A supplier label needs six elements: product identifier, initial supplier identifier, pictogram(s), signal word, hazard statement(s), and precautionary statement(s).
Why: A GHS-aligned SDS has 16 standardized sections. This replaced the old MSDS, which had no fixed format.
Why: Workers have the right to know about hazards, the right to participate in health and safety decisions, and the right to refuse unsafe work. WHMIS directly supports the right to know.
FAQ
We found no government-issued WHMIS exam or certificate. CCOHS says the legislation places the obligation for WHMIS education and training with the employer, who may deliver it or choose a qualified or competent person or agency, and that the province or territory sets the requirements. The CCOHS and Health Canada pages we checked do not describe an official WHMIS test or certificate, so ask your employer what proof of training they accept. Source: CCOHS, ccohs.ca (WHMIS education and training), checked 5 Nov 2026.
It depends on your employer and your province or territory. The supplier rules (labels, safety data sheets) are set nationally in the federal Hazardous Products Regulations, but CCOHS says the province or territory determines the WHMIS education and training requirements, with small variations between jurisdictions. CCOHS also describes education as general, portable information and training as specific to your workplace and job, so expect site-specific training at a new workplace. Confirm with your employer and your provincial or territorial OHS authority. Sources: CCOHS (WHMIS education and training); Hazardous Products Regulations, laws-lois.justice.gc.ca.
The sources we checked set no fixed expiry date. CCOHS says most jurisdictions do not specify whether an employer must provide refresher training, or that retraining be done at a required frequency, and that refresher training should happen as needed to protect workers' health and safety, for example when products, hazard information or work conditions change. How long a course certificate or card is accepted therefore depends on your employer and your province, so ask them. Sources: CCOHS (WHMIS general; WHMIS education and training), checked 5 Nov 2026.
Not by any fixed yearly rule in the texts we checked. CCOHS says most jurisdictions do not require refresher training at a set frequency, but that the employer's WHMIS education and training program should be reviewed at least annually. Ontario's WHMIS regulation (R.R.O. 1990, Reg. 860, ss. 6 and 7) requires employers to inform and instruct workers and sets no refresher interval. In BC, the OHS Regulation (s. 5.5) requires the WHMIS program to be reviewed at least annually, or more often if work conditions change, and periodic evaluation of workers' knowledge with no frequency stated; ss. 5.6 and 5.7 (education and training) state no refresher interval. Other provinces and territories may differ. Sources: CCOHS; Ontario e-Laws (ontario.ca/laws/regulation/900860); WorkSafeBC OHS Regulation Part 5 (worksafebc.com), as of 5 Nov 2026.
It depends on who trains you: there is no single national WHMIS test, and the CCOHS pages we checked do not set a number of questions. Employers or training providers choose their own test, if they use one. ExamHub's timed practice test draws 20 questions from a bank of 169 original questions. Source: CCOHS (WHMIS education and training), checked 5 Nov 2026.
The sources we checked give no national WHMIS pass mark; the employer or training provider sets it. CCOHS says some jurisdictions may require employers to periodically evaluate workers' knowledge using written tests, practical demonstrations or other means. ExamHub's timed practice test uses an 80% pass mark (16 of 20) as its own setting, not an official figure. Source: CCOHS (WHMIS education and training).
Amendments to the Hazardous Products Regulations came into force on 15 December 2022 (published 4 January 2023), and Health Canada says the 3-year transition period ended on 14 December 2025. Changes include clearer provisions, new information elements required on safety data sheets, a new physical hazard class (Chemicals Under Pressure), a new hazard category for non-flammable aerosols and new subcategories for flammable gases. Source: Health Canada, Amended Hazardous Products Regulations (canada.ca), checked 5 Nov 2026.
The GHS is the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals; WHMIS is Canada's workplace system, which Canada has aligned with the GHS. WHMIS rules are Canadian law: the Hazardous Products Regulations set them, and Schedule 3 includes a Biohazardous Infectious Materials pictogram in addition to eight others. Sources: CCOHS (WHMIS general); Hazardous Products Regulations, Schedule 3.
There are nine. Schedule 3 of the Hazardous Products Regulations lists flame, flame over circle, exploding bomb, corrosion, gas cylinder, skull and crossbones, exclamation mark, health hazard and biohazardous infectious materials. Per CCOHS: flame covers flammable hazards; flame over circle, oxidizers; gas cylinder, gases under pressure; corrosion, corrosive to metals, skin corrosion and serious eye damage; exploding bomb, self-reactive substances and organic peroxides (Types A and B); skull and crossbones, acute toxicity; health hazard, sensitization, mutagenicity, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, target organ toxicity and aspiration; exclamation mark, lower-level acute toxicity, irritation and single-exposure target organ toxicity; and biohazardous infectious materials. Sources: Hazardous Products Regulations, Schedule 3 (laws-lois.justice.gc.ca); CCOHS WHMIS pictograms.
No. These are original questions written by ExamHub from the CCOHS WHMIS fact sheets, the Hazardous Products Regulations and Ontario's WHMIS regulation (Reg. 860). They cover the same topics but aren't copies of any provider's exam.
Sources
Checked 5 Nov 2026. Always confirm current details with the official pages.