Labels and Supplier/Workplace Label Requirements
This domain tests what must appear on a supplier label, when a workplace label is required, and what a workplace label must contain. Exam items often present a decanting or damaged-label scenario and ask which label rule applies.
Supplier label
A supplier label must be durable, legible, bilingual in English and French, and remain on the container. It must show:
- the product identifier;
- the initial supplier identifier: name, address and telephone number;
- hazard pictogram or pictograms;
- signal word, Danger or Warning;
- hazard statement or statements;
- precautionary statement or statements;
- supplemental information, such as Read the SDS before use.
The supplier label may not be removed except to replace it with another compliant label.
Workplace label
An employer must apply a workplace label when a hazardous product is transferred to another container, when the supplier label is lost, damaged or illegible, or when a hazardous product is produced in the workplace. A workplace label must show the product identifier, information for safe handling, and a statement that the SDS is available. Pictograms and signal words are not mandatory on a workplace label, though they may be included. For pipes and piping systems, the employer may use a labelling system such as colour coding or tags if workers are trained in its meaning.
Worked example
A worker pours acetone from a 20-litre supplier drum into a 1-litre spray bottle for a cleaning task. The drum keeps its supplier label. The spray bottle needs a workplace label reading something like: Acetone, highly flammable, keep away from ignition sources, use in a ventilated area, SDS available. If the drum label is torn, the employer must replace it with a workplace label or obtain a new supplier label. Some jurisdictions exempt a container filled and used immediately by the same worker, but that exemption is narrow and jurisdiction-specific; the safe exam answer is to label the container.
Traps that cost marks
- Claiming a workplace label must include a pictogram. It does not.
- Accepting an English-only supplier label. Supplier labels are bilingual.
- Using a generic label such as cleaner or solvent instead of the specific product identifier.
- Removing the supplier label to write on the container instead of replacing it properly.
- Omitting the statement that the SDS is available.
- Applying the immediate-use exemption to a container left unattended or used by another worker.