"My WHMIS expired" and "Does WHMIS expire?"

These are two of the more common questions we get. One of the reasons is because there is no prescribed retraining frequency or renewal requirement for a WHMIS certificate.  In fact, the WHMIS certificate is a recent addition provided by many training delivery systems and trainers as a way of providing evidence of the completion of a training and testing program.

Despite there being nothing in the WHMIS regulations which specify a retraining time or expiry date on a certificate, there are two situations where you may hear someone say your whmis is expired.

- The first would be in the case where you have completed WHMIS training and testing more than a year ago, and what the person really means is that it has been so long since you completed the training they want to take it again to be more comfortable that you are knowledgeable on WHMIS.

And

- The second is a situation where the WHMIS regulations have changed substantially to where the concern is that your knowledge is not accurate or up to date. This situation happened when the Federal government announced a new version of WHMIS (WHMIS 2015). Many workers, even those who recently completed the old WHMIS 1988 training course and received a certificate, needed a new certificate that is based on completion of the new WHMIS regulations that were in effect. The most recent amendments to the Hazardous Products Regulations came into force on December 15, 2022. These amendments may require an update on WHMIS training in order to prove an up-to-date comprehension of WHMIS.