and Pest Control Products 1

SECTION 2: Hazards identification

14 WHMIS 2015 Section 3 Composition/information on ingredients ................................................................ 15 Section 4 First-aid measures ................................................................................................... 17 Section 5 Fire-fighting measures ............................................................................................ 18 Section 6 Accidental release measures ................................................................................... 18 Section 7 Handling and storage .............................................................................................. 19 Section 8 Exposure controls/personal protection .................................................................... 20 Section 9 Physical and chemical properties ............................................................................ 22 Stability and reactivity ........................................................................................ 27

TOXICOLOGICAL INFORMATION

28

ECOLOGICAL INFORMATION

31 Disposal considerations ....................................................................................... 32 Transport information ......................................................................................... 33 Regulatory information ....................................................................................... 35

Further information

36 Appendix III PMRA Hazard Class and the Comparable GHS Hazard Class (or classes) ........ 37 Guidance for Preparing Safety Data Sheets (SDS) 1.0 Introduction This consultation document, produced by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency (PMRA), invites comments on the following guidance for registrants of pest control products on the expected format and content of GHS-consistent1 Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) for registered pest control products in Canada. This guideline is intended for the voluntary adoption and use by all registrants with a pest control product registered in Canada. SDSs are primarily for use by workers (for example, handlers, warehouse workers, agricultural workers, pre- and post- application workers, and vendors) in workplaces involved in pest control product application and handling. Registrants should keep this audience in mind when writing an SDS. However, registrants should also take into account that SDSs are commonly used by emergency responders (including health professionals), consumers, and those involved in the transportation of dangerous goods. The PMRA invites the public to submit written comments up to 45 days from the publication of this consultation document. Please forward all comments to PMRA Publications. (See Section 4.0, Next Steps, for more information.) 2.0 Background 2.1 Safety Data Sheets and Pest Control Products SDSs (previously called “material safety data sheets” or MSDSs) are an important part of communicating the hazards associated with pest control products and other chemicals. The SDS format found in Table 1.5.2 of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classifying and labelling of chemicals2 has become the international standard format for SDSs used in workplaces, with some modifications for each regulatory jurisdiction. This document aims to help registrants prepare SDSs according to the GHS format and classification system. This will in turn support compliance with any eventual regulatory requirements for SDSs under the Pest Control Products Act to be established in the future. 1 GHS-consistent SDS means an SDS produced using an accepted version of the GHS (version 5 is the version this guidance is largely adapted from but using versions 3, 4, or 6 would also be acceptable as long as the Canadian specific pesticide information is included), or a GHS based system that has been adopted by a recognized jurisdiction, see Sections 3.2 and 3.3. 2 Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), 5th ed. 2013. New York: United Nations. At: http://www.unece.org/trans/danger/publi/ghs/ghs_rev05/05files_e.html. Guidance for Preparing Safety Data Sheets (SDS) Page 1 2.2 SDSs and Labels The approved pest control product label (the label), under the Pest Control Products Act, needs to be followed at all times and in cases where there are any discrepancies between the approved label and an SDS for that product it is the label information that prevails. Note that labels approved under the Pest Control Products Act are not in the GHS. 2.3 Basic Obligations To conform with this guideline, it is expected that: • Registrants prepare bilingual (French and English) GHS-consistent SDSs for registered Commercial, Restricted, and Manufacturing class pest control products;3 • Registrants who develop SDSs make them available to workers and workplaces, wherever pest control products are used, sold, stored, transported and handled in Canada; and to the Minister of Health on request; • Generally, SDSs be made available through websites and by email, however some workplaces may require paper copies be provided to them; and • SDSs indicate all hazards of the product using GHS-consistent classification. At a minimum, registrants are expected to disclose ingredients on SDSs in the same manner as is required for labels.4 Registrants may further choose to list or group ingredients (see Section 3 of Appendix II for more information). This guidance does not call for the creation of GHS-consistent SDSs for Domestic Class pest control products or to pest control products scheduled under the Pest Control Products Act and Regulations. However, there may be situations where registrants or suppliers may want to make an SDS available for Domestic Class or scheduled pest control products (for example, warehouse storage, consumer requests); in which case, they may wish to use this guidance. 2.4 SDS Information and GHS Hazard Classification The GHS is an international standard for communicating chemical hazard information through labels and SDSs using a standardized 16-Section SDS format (see Appendix I for the list of sections). The GHS label elements include signal words, symbols and hazard and precautionary statements. The GHS provides classification criteria for physical, health and environmental hazards associated with chemicals. 3 Pesticide classes are described in the Pest Control Products Regulations, see: http://laws- lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2006-124/page-1.html#s-1. 4 See section 43 of the Pest Control Products Act for more information on what ingredient information is protected as confidential business information (CBI). Guidance for Preparing Safety Data Sheets (SDS) Page 2 To be GHS consistent, pest control products are to be classified by hazard class in accordance with an accepted version of the GHS.5 Implementing the GHS classification system for SDSs should not require registrants to generate new data in order to derive a GHS classification. The current data needed to register a pest control product should be sufficient to populate the 16- section template. 3.0 SDS Guidance to Registrants 3.1 Making SDSs Available to Workplaces Registrants are expected to make SDSs available to workers and workplaces wherever pest control products are manufactured, possessed, handled, stored, transported, imported, distributed or used in Canada. For the purposes of this document, “make available” includes distributing SDSs electronically and publishing them online. However, it is also expected that registrants provide paper copies to workplaces upon request. Consistent with the Pest Control Products Act definition, a “workplace” is a place where a person works for remuneration (that is, for pay/salary). The SDS can be made available as an integrated bilingual document (for example, side by side), or as a document with two unilingual parts that constitute one bilingual SDS. 3.2 International SDSs As GHS is an international standard and in use by other jurisdictions, an SDS produced for another country should only require minimal adaptation for use in Canada as a pest control product SDS. Jurisdictions where this minimal adaption should be possible for registered pest control product SDSs include the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (US